In the 15th century, the first Jewish family settled in the Little Suburb of Olesno. The municipal authorities denied them the right to live within the walls. At the beginning of the 16th century, three subsistence Jewish families lived in this suburb.

The Peace of Westphalia, concluded on 1648, which ended the war, made the granting of permission for Jewish settlement conditional on the decision of the landowners. As a result, Jews once again took up residence in Olesno. During the plague epidemic of 1708, 18 Jews died in the town.

In 1745, the Prussian military authorities ordered all Jews to leave Olesno. 5 years later, with the aim of revitalising the economy, Jews were encouraged to resettle in the city. In 1782 there were around 150 Jews (12.7% of the total population), while in 1787 there were 112.

On 14 May 1805, the Breslau war-dominion kamera issued a permit for the construction of a Jewish prayer house in Olesno. Until now, Jews have gathered for prayers in the house of Löbel Löser Cohn.

At the time of the edict, 42 Jewish families lived in Olesno.

Between 1814 and 1817, the first free-standing synagogue was builtin the so-called Great Suburb (outside the city walls).

In 1832, 213 Jews lived in Olesno (9.5% of the total population), while by 1840 this number had risen to 285 (10.5% of the total population).

On 1847, enacted the statute of the Synagogue Community in Olesno.  

In 1861 there were 307 Jews living in Olesno (12% of the total population).

On 14 June 1887, the Olesno synagogue was burnt down as a result of a fire caused by the carelessness of a tinsmith repairing the roof. A new synagogue was built on its site and ceremonially opened on 19 September 1889.

The turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was characterised by increased emigration of Upper Silesian Jews to major urban centres within Germany. In 1900, 236 Jews lived in the town (4.9% of the total population), in 1925 there were 180 Jews in the town, in 1933 this number increased to 127, and in 1840 to 112 (1.6% of the total population).

Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 significantly changed the position of the Jewish population throughout Germany. In 1936 there were 83 Jews in the town, in 1938 this number increased to 127, and in 1840 to 58 (0.8% of the total population).The expiry of the Convention on 15 July 1937 extended all anti-Semitic laws passed after 1933 in the Third Reich to the area of German Upper Silesia, including the so-called Nuremberg Laws.

During the so-called Kristallnacht of 9-10 November 1938, organised pogroms against the Jewish population took place Olesno, where, among other things, the synagogue was burnt down and numerous properties belonging to Jews were demolished. A dozen Jewish men were also arrested and incarcerated in Buchenwald concentration camp. These events intensified the emigration of the Jewish population. The census of May 1939 showed 34 Jews in the town.

During World War II, between 1942 and 1943, the Jews of Olesa were deported to Terezin and then to German Nazi concentration camps. On April 21, 1943, the fifth transport from the Opole Region (transport No. XVIII/5) left for Terezin. C.V. file documents. Oberschlesien indicate that the transport included 46 Jews from Olesno, Opole, Raciborz and Glubczyce. Of this group, 11 people survived.

The Description

In Olesno, a Jewish cemetery was established in the middle of 1820. It was located to the west of the city centre, in the so-called Male Przedmiescie section of the city, on today’s Mlynska Street. Previously, local Jews buried their dead in Dobrodzien and Kraskow, but also in Gorzow Slaski.

The cemetery – located on a rectangular plan – was originally surrounded by a stone wall. As it was almost full, the burial space was extended towards the east in 1868, bringing it to an area of around 0.5 hectares. The entire area was then enclosed by a new fence, and a new funeral home was also erected on the street side, both built entirely in red brick.

Due to the surviving death certificates of the Jewish population from 1813-1847 for the town of Olesno, it is known that the first person buried there was eighteen-and-a-half-year-old Isaac vel Joseph Zweig, who died on 11 July 1820 in Wachowo. His grave is still crowned by an original and well-preserved headstone. Also, thanks to a census of gravestones carried out at the beginning of the 20th century, which was supplemented in subsequent years with more burials, it is known that by mid-1938 up to 480 people may have been laid to rest in the cemetery in standard-sized graves, with 30 more in the new children’s quarters. For the census taker, many graves remained anonymous, probably due to the lack of a gravestone or the illegibility of the inscription. Despite the discontinuation of the registration of subsequent burials in the burial book, those in the Olesko cemetery continued to take place for another three years. The last to be laid to rest was Emma Lewin (maiden name Altmann), who died on 13 April 1941 at the age of 72.

On 4 July 1939, the necropolis became the property of the Association of Jews in Germany, which represented the local office in Gliwice in the area, while on 10 June 1943 it was taken over by the Gestapo and placed under the administration of the district tax office. The cemetery survived until 1945 almost intact. Minor damage in the form of three toppled gravestones was reported in November 1938, but it was uncertain whether this was an act of vandalism or perhaps the result of the sulphurous frosts of the previous year. In 1939, another tombstone fell over. As of June 1940, the damage had not been repaired due to the difficulty in finding skilled workers to undertake this work.

After the Second World War, the cemetery, left unattended, gradually deteriorated, partially due to the human factor. Nevertheless, despite the theft of some of the tombstones, the cemetery still survives in good condition today. The area is well maintained and has been since the 1990s. In the 1970s, it was regularly mown. The funeral home is secure and also remains in good technical condition.

Author of the note: Sławomir Pastuszka

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