The Jewish population began to settle in Dzierżoniów again in the 19th century, after the Emancipation Edict was announced. The first Jews came here from various towns in Greater Poland and Upper Silesia. Initially, the kahal in Dzierżoniów had the status of a branch of the Synagogue Community in Świdnica. The city's Jewish community was never numerous. The first three Jews officially residing in the town were recorded in 1816. In 1852, the number of Jewish inhabitants increased to 122, and in 1871 it was 185, which was the maximum number of Jews in the town.

In 1875, on what was then Trenkstraße (today Ignacego Krasickiego 28), a synagogue was built. It was designed in an eclectic style, reminiscent of Romanesque and Renaissance styles. The official consecration took place on June 8, 1875. During the Kristallnacht pogrom in 1938, the synagogue was vandalized, but it was not set on fire. The facility has been preserved to this day.

In 1940, the first deportations from the Wrocław region began. The Jews of Dzierżoniów were sent to the transit camps in Rybna (Riebnig) and Krzeszów(Grüssau), and then became victims of the German Nazi camps Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen, Gross-Rosen, Kulmhof (in Chełmno nad Nerem), as well as the ghetto in Izbica. During World War II, near the city, on the border of the Bielawa, Pieszyce and Dzierżoniów fields, there was the Sportschule camp, a branch of Gross-Rosen, through which about 4,000 Polish Jews passed through.

After 1945, Dzierżoniów was one of the main Jewish centers in Lower Silesia. In July 1946, there were 11,856 Jews living here. Half a year later, their number increased to 17.8 thousand people, of which more than 11 thousand left the city within a few months. The first seat of the Provincial Jewish Committee in Lower Silesia was located here, which was the coordinator of Jewish life in the entire voivodeship. Cultural, social, political and economic life developed intensely. Jewish schools were established in the city, both with Yiddish and Hebrew, open boarding schools for children, as well as a Jewish sports club. There were also Zionist parties and their youth organizations, as well as roughly a dozen Jewish cooperatives.

The Description

The origins of the Jewish cemetery in Dzierżoniów date back to 1817, when members of the Jewish community were forced to purchase a plot of land to be used as a burial place for Dzierżoniów's Jews. A year later, the land was purchased for the same purpose by Isaac Naphtali and Abraham David Hirsch, which may have resulted from the need to expand the cemetery area. According to Bernhard Brilling, in 1825 the two properties were connected and thus a cemetery was created for members of the Dzierżoniów Jewish community, which was located 'between the Wrocławska and Ząbkowicka Gates.'' In the cemetery, a gate building was also built, which served as a house for the cemetery guard or gardener, and a pre-burial home.

At the end of the 19th century, the area of the cemetery was 9 ares and 20 square meters. The names of two cemetery guards are known - in the years 1910–1914, this function was held by Hermann Heilig, and from 1928, by the German gardener and caretaker Konrad Springer, who is credited with saving the Jewish cemetery during World War II. According to oral histories, in 1937, in a course of an auction, he was to become the owner of the synagogue and Jewish cemetery in Dzierżoniów, and in June 1945 he transferred these properties to the Provincial Committee of Polish Jews established in the town. However, these facts have not yet been confirmed by researchers. After World War II, the cemetery became a burial ground for Polish Jews.

The cemetery is surrounded by a stone and brick wall with an entrance and entry gate on the west side. The original wrought iron gate, preserved to this day, was founded by Akiva Rosenthal, a Jew from Wrocław, who wanted to commemorate his ancestors resting in this necropolis. There was a plaque on the gate (destroyed in the early 21st century) with the following text: 'In blessed memory of Akiva Rosenthal from the holy commune in Wrocław, for the souls of his ancestors buried here in 1841.'

Currently, the necropolis consists of two parts - the pre-war German one and the post-war Polish one. It still serves as a burial ground for the Jewish inhabitants of Dzierżoniów and the surrounding area. The tombstones are placed on the east-west axis and are made mainly of sandstone, granite and marble. About 200 tombstones have been preserved to this day, most of which come from the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. They were made in local stonemason's workshops, including Thust's workshop from Piława Górna and Friedler & Böse workshop from Dzierżoniów. The tombstones have various forms and ornamentation. They contain inscriptions in Hebrew, German or bilingual (Hebrew-German). The most interesting ones include: the tombstones of the royal sanitary councilor and doctor of medicine Max Herrnstadt (1850–1927) and the pensioner Saul Barwald (1840–1916), as well as the tombs of the families of the owners of the Dzierżoniów factories - Cohnowie, Weylowie and Beerowie. Several family tombs have also survived to the present day. The necropolis also held burials of former prisoners of a branch of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp who died after the end of the war.

The necropolis is located on Bielawska 18 (plot 292), and its area is 0.2738 ha. The current owner of the facility is the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage. The cemetery, despite its great historical value. has not been entered into the register of monuments yet.

Author of the note: Tamara Włodarczyk

References

• Brilling, B., Die jüdischen Gemeinden Mittelschlesiens. Entstehung und Geschichte, Stuttgart 1972.
• Dzierżoniów. Zarys monografii miasta, Dąbrowski, S. (red.), Wrocław-Dzierżoniów 1998.
• Grużlewska, A., Żydzi z prowincji. Świdnicki i wałbrzyski okręg synagogalny 1812-1945, Dzierżoniów 2016.
• Hasse, E., Chronik der Stadt Reichenbach im Eulengebirge, Reichenbach 1929.
• Card of the Jewish cemetery in Dzierżoniów, edited by E. Jakubaszek, 2003.
• Paul, A., Geschichte der Stadt Reichenbach in Schlesien, Reichenbach 1889.
• Wodziński, M., Hebrajskie inskrypcje na Śląsku XIII-XVIII wieku, Wrocław 1996.

Właściciel praw autorskich do opisu: Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich POLIN.