WETTSTEIN, FEIVEL HIRSCH

WETTSTEIN, FEIVEL HIRSCH (1858–1924), Polish historian. Wettstein spent his whole life in his native Cracow, where he owned a bookstore. Through the influence of his teacher, Ḥayyim Nathan Dembitzer , and while still young, he began to study the history of the Jews in Poland, especially in Cracow, from material available in old responsa and in the minute books and archives of communities and societies. His monographs (published in various periodicals) illuminated obscure periods in the history of the Jews of Poland and served as valuable sources for historians of Polish Jewry such as meir balaban and others. Wettstein's studies are distinguished by careful scholarship and the avoidance of unfounded conjectures. His works include Kadmoniyyot mi-Pinkesa'ot Yeshanim le-Korot Yisrael be-Polin bi-Khelal u-vi-Cracow bi-Ferat (1892); a biography, Le-Toledot S.J. Rapaport (1900); Devarim Attikim mi-Pinkesei ha-Kahal bi-Cracow (1901); and Le-Korot ha-Yehudim be-Polin u-ve-Yiḥud bi-Cracow … (1918). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Cuch, in: Haaretz (July 24, 1924); G. Bader, Medinah va-Ḥakhameha (1934), 93. (Gedalyah Elkoshi)