In 1840, six Jews lived in Świebodzice, among them distiller Schweizer. An official Jewish community was established in the first half of the 19th century and was initially subordinate to the Synagogue District in Świdnica. It later became a branch of the Jewish Community in Strzegom.

The Jewish population of Świebodzice was never large, with the greatest number of Jews residing in the town in 1880 (76 people). In 1913, the town had 29 Jewish residents, and in 1931 – 23 (six families). In the 19th century, the local Jews were involved in trade, running small shops selling confectionery and groceries.

The Jews of Świebodzice never built a synagogue – from the 19th century, the house of prayer was located in the Market Square, in a building adjacent to the front building at 6 Rynek. According to a description found in historical sources, the prayer hall was situated in a windowless building. In 1933, the property was sold, and the new owner set up a cinema at the site.

Among the Jewish merchants active in Świebodzice were: Julius Bersu (whose tombstone is still preserved in the local Jewish cemetery), Pinkus Guttmann, Moritz Schuftan, Heinrich Unger, and Wilhelm Louis Schweitzer. In the 20th century, Max Bersu was a grain wholesaler, while Alfred Beger owned a colonial goods and tobacco shop.

During World War II, the FAL Freiburg women’s camp, a branch of Gross-Rosen, operated in Świebodzice. From January 1945, its prisoners were 150 Hungarian Jewish women brought from KL Ravensbrück. They worked in the buildings of the former Hermann Teichgräber weaving mill, converted into a facility of AEG (Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft) originally operating in Berlin. In February 1945, the prisoners were evacuated to the Głuszyca branch of Gross-Rosen and then to the Zwodau branch of KL Flossenbürg.

After World War II, a large group of Polish Jews settled in Świebodzice. In May 1946, there were 472 Jews residing in the town, and two months later – 692. Many social, cultural, and political Jewish organisations were established.

The Description

In 1849, the Jews of Świebodzice founded a small cemetery at erstwhile Waldenburgerchaussee (another location – Salzbrunner Straße), between the municipal cemetery and the cement factory, at today’s Wałbrzyska Street. It consisted of two plots of land with a total area of 690 square metres. Initially, it was also used for burials of Jews from Wałbrzych, where a Jewish necropolis was established much later. In 1936, the Świebodzice kehilla was dissolved, and ownership of the cemetery property passed to the Jewish Community in Świdnica. Preserved sources show that burials were still held at the site in 1938, when Philipp Wolff and Ludwig Mahn were laid to rest in the necropolis.

Since 1942, the cemetery was property of the Association of Jews in Germany. In 1943, city workers dismantled all metal components from the cemetery, which yielded 791 kg of scrap metal. Subsequently, the necropolis was put up for sale. In 1943, the site was leased out and then sold to Heinrich A. J. Renner, the owner of the cement factory adjacent to the cemetery. He used the newly acquired premises as storage space for production materials. The sale contract was signed on 21 February 1944 and included a clause that waived the German Reich from claims by the owners of the monuments and gravestones that were still present in the cemetery.

After World War II, the cemetery was taken over by the community of Polish Jews who settled in Świebodzice. In 1965, it was used by the Jewish Religious Congregation in Świdnica, which described it as active.

Today, the Jewish necropolis is part of the municipal cemetery located at Wałbrzyska Street. It is located in the south-western part of plot no. 534, AM-9, section 0003 Śródmieście 3 and covers an area of approximately 0.06 ha. The cemetery was established on a parcel resembling an elongated trapezoid, bordering the municipal cemetery to the north. The entrance gate was originally located at Wałbrzyska Street, but it has since been bricked up. Currently, the cemetery can only be accessed from the municipal cemetery, through a gate in the cemetery wall. In 2018, the necropolis was entered in the register of monuments – decision number A/6098.

In 1998, the necropolis was tidied up on the initiative of the erstwhile Mayor of Świebodzice Jan Wysoczański. The cemetery grounds were completely cleared and levelled. A stone slab was placed at the site, adorned with the inscription: Remembering the dead makes us human and a Star of David. The few surviving damaged gravestones were placed by the eastern wall of the cemetery. Among them were four pre-war gravestones and two post-war gravestones dating from 1946 and 1949. A commemorative board was installed on the main axis of the cemetery area, with the inscription reading: “The memory of the murdered makes us human.”

In the municipal cemetery adjacent to the Jewish necropolis, there is an interesting gravestone of the couple Helene and Adolf Waldmann (sector 1, row C, grave no. 5). Dr Adolf Waldmann was the son of local merchant Markus Waldmann and Marianna neé Gutmann. He died in an accident in the Alps near Salzburg on 5 September 1899. His burial in the Świebodzice cemetery took place on 9 September 1899, but the location of his grave suggests that he was no longer a follower of Judaism. Three years after Adolf Waldmann’s death, in 1902, a memorial funded by his friends was erected in the cemetery, consisting of an obelisk in polished black Swedish granite and a carved monument in white Tyrolean marble, depicting a young woman in ancient garb. The statue was designed by Viktor Oskar Tilgner, an eminent sculptor and professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, and produced by master stonemason Lamartin Niggl from Breslau.

Author of the note: Tamara Włodarczyk

Bibliography

• Brilling B., Die jüdischen Gemeinden Mittelschlesiens. Entstehung und Geschichte, Stuttgart 1972.
• Decision on the inclusion of the monument in the register of monuments dated 5 September 2018.
• Grużlewska A., Żydzi z prowincji. Świdnicki i wałbrzyski okręg synagogalny 1812–1945, Dzierżoniów 2016.
• Heidrich J., “Die jüdische Gemeinde in Freiburg/Schlesien. Eine Spurensuche,” Schlesischer Gottesfreund. Nachrichten und Beiträge aus dem Evangelischen Schlesien 2011, no. 8.
• Połomski F., “Zawłaszczenie i sprzedaż cmentarzy żydowskich w latach II wojny światowej na Śląsku. Ze studiów nad prawem własności w III Rzeszy,” Acta Universitatis Wratislaviensis, no. 815 (Studia nad Faszyzmem i Zbrodniami Hitlerowskimi, vol. 11).

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