Jews probably appeared in Skwierzyna (German: Schwerin an der Warthe) as early as the 14th century. The Jewish quarter was located in the southwestern part of the town, on both sides of the town gate. In 1520, King Sigismund I the Old, yielding to the request of the townspeople, ordered the expulsion of Jews from Skwierzyna. It is not known whether the order was actually implemented and if it was, how long the Jews were absent from the town. The royal survey of the Greater Poland Province from 1564–1565 shows that there were some Jewish people among the residents of Skwierzyna.

The local Jewish community was the largest and most significant in the Międzyrzecz District. In the 16th century, a highly esteemed yeshiva operated in the town. The community made a point of employ renowned rabbis in the school. One of the prominent figures hailing from Skwierzyna was Gassel Simon ben Israel, a rabbi active in Amsterdam, author of numerous treatises. The 18th century saw numerous important rabbis active in Skwierzyna: Mordechai ben Meier ha-Kohen, Ibi Hirsch from Prague, Josua Spira from Frankfurt an der Oder, Hirsch Aron London, as well as Eliakim ha-Kohen Schwerin-Goetz – the most outstanding representative of the Skwierzyna community, later one of the greatest Hungarian rabbis of the 19th century. According to the census conducted by the Prussians in 1793, 720 Jews lived in Skwierzyna, constituting ca. 30% of all its inhabitants.

The synagogue was located at Krummestraβe (today the corner of Powstańców Wielkopolskich and Piłsudskiego Streets). It burnt down in 1784 and was replaced with a new building a year later. A mikveh was located right next to the synagogue. The community also ran a slaughterhouse, kosher butcher shops, and a matzo bakery. With time, the existing synagogue became too small to fit the needs of the community.

On 15 April 1839, the cornerstone of a new synagogue was ceremoniously laid on a plot at Pfarrstraβe (nowadays Jagiełły Street). A box was walled up in the foundations, holding a parchment scroll with information about the old synagogue and the Jewish community. The new synagogue was officially opened in January 1841. It was a building on a rectangular plan with interior illuminated by tall semi-arched windows, covered with a flat gable roof. In 1865, an orphanage for boys and a hospital operated next to the synagogue. The temple existed until the Kristallnacht (10/11 November 1938), when it was devastated and converted into a grain warehouse by the Nazis, who also tore off a wall plaque commemorating the Jews who died in the wars waged by Prussia and Imperial Germany. The building was set on fire on 30 January 1945, just before the Red Army entered the town. The burnt walls remained standing at the site until the 1960s. They were eventually pulled down and two apartment blocks were built in their place.

In the first half of the 19th century, the community in Skwierzyna was considered one of the most reform-oriented Jewish communities in Greater Poland. By 1842, as many as 138 out of all 1,569 local Jews obtained naturalisation certificates. Naturalised Jews were vested with municipal rights and had privileges unavailable to tolerated Jews – they could, for example, sit on the Municipal Council. It was not until the mid-19th century that all Prussian Jews were emancipated. They could now freely choose their place of residence. As a result, many people, especially the wealthiest community members, began to gradually settle along the main street of the town, and even in the Market Square. The abolition of guild privileges gave Jews the possibility of freely engaging in business activities. Nonetheless, the size of the Skwierzyna Jewish community started to dwindle in the mid-19th century. This was due to a wave of migration to big cities, mainly Berlin. In 1836 alone, 34 Jewish families left Skwierzyna.

The great economic crisis (1929–1933) led to a spike in antisemitic attitudes, as the official propaganda persuaded the unemployed to blame the Jews for the lack of work opportunities. Hostility and repressions became widespread. The Jews who stayed in Skwierzyna were forced to sell their homes and leave the town. After 1936, there were almost no Jewish people in Skwierzyna. Those who emigrated saved their lives. The ones who stayed were murdered in Nazi German extermination camps.

The Description

The Jewish cemetery in Skwierzyna was established on the so-called "Jewish Mountain" (German: Judenberg), by the road to Międzyrzecz, ca. 2 km from the town centre, at today's Międzyrzecka Street. It is adjacent to the municipal cemetery from the north and covers an area of 2.35 ha. It is the second largest Jewish necropolis in western Poland after the Wrocław cemetery – both in terms of the area and the number of fully or partially preserved matzevot.

The exact date of the establishment of the cemetery is unknown. Preserved sources suggest that it also served as a burial site for Jews from nearby Murzynowo. It survived World War II largely untouched, with preserved cemetery gates, fence, ritual well, funeral home (at the top of the hill), and numerous gravestones and tombs. It was only at the turn of the 1970s that the site was devastated. This was due to the state campaign of liquidating Jewish cemeteries, vandalism at the hands the local inhabitants, and most importantly, the extension of Międzyrzecka Street. The tombstones from the cemetery were stolen and used as building material for the construction of foundations and terraces of new houses.

In the years 2001–2002, the cemetery area was cleaned up and restored as part of the “Przywrócić pamięć" (“To Bring Memory Back”) project. In addition, information boards in Polish and English were installed at the site. Since 2015, volunteers of the Action Reconciliation Service for Peace, a German peace association, have been regularly tidying up the area. They have also been making a register of tombstones for the purposes of a future publication. They have so far catalogued about 550 objects – matzevot, obelisks, stone blocks, parts of grave framings. The oldest monuments are located on the western part of the hill, on the side of the road to Międzyrzecz. The oldest dates back to 1736. One-third of the matzevot is decorated with symbolic images, and about 20% bear two-sided inscriptions in Hebrew and German.

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

Bibliography

• Borowski M., Kirmiel A., Włodarczyk T., Śladami Żydów. Dolny Śląsk, Opolszczyzna, Ziemia Lubuska, Warsaw 2008, pp. 80-81.
• Garbacz K., Przewodnik po zabytkach województwa lubuskiego, vol. 3, Zielona Góra 2013, p. 237.