At first, they were individual Jews who converted to Christianity, e.g. in 1748, 1750, 1753, 1754. In the latter case, a wealthy and valued goldsmith Bernard Nowicki settled in Koronowo. In 1804, 14 Jews lived in the town (1.1% of the total population), in 1808 - 54 (4.3%), in 1812 - 48 (4.9%), in 1816 - 90 (5.8%), in 1831 - 170 (9.5%), in 1834 - 200, in 1849 - 308 (14%), in 1852 - 422 (16%), in 1858 - 435 (15.7%), in 1861 - 479, in 1871 - 620 (17.3%), in 1885 - 456 (11.5%), in 1895 - 305 (7.9%), in 1903 - 240 (6.2%), in 1910 - 219 (4,1%).

The Jewish community was established on 30/05/1834. Its area coincided with the city limits in the interwar period. Nevertheless, some institutions were older than the formal establishment of the community. A small half-timbered, tiled synagogue was built in 1797, measuring approximately 10.5 x 6 metres. It was closed in 1843 due to poor technical conditions. For some time, services were held in private houses, e.g. at Loewe Rosenthal’s. Rabbi A. M. Lewin made efforts to build a new synagogue in 1846; in 1850, efforts began to obtain permission from the authorities and a building site. The ceremonial opening of the brick synagogue in Szkolna Street (Polish: ul. Szkolna) (Schulztraße) took place on 6 September 1858. The old synagogue was demolished, and the city repurchased the square.

From 1831, there was a Jewish school in Koronowo. The first teacher was Julius Neuenburg. In 1847, three teachers worked in two classes: Louis Frankenstein, Moses Mendelsohn, and Louis Pulvermacher. In 1859, 77 children were learning at the school. In 1867, a dwelling house in Kościelna Street (Polish: ul. Kościelna) was purchased and adapted for educational purposes. The school operated until 1878. Soon before its liquidation, 111 pupils were educated there. Jewish organisations are known to have functioned in the 19th century, including the Chevra Kadisha Brotherhood (from 1862 formally known as the Chevra Kadischa Verein) and the Women’s Society (Frauenverein). Jews also belonged to the Society of Independent Merchants, which existed since 1912. Society of Independent Merchants, which grouped members regardless of nationality or religion.

The Description

The interwar years saw the decline of the Jewish community, brought about by emigration. In 1921, Koronowo had 56 Jews (1.2%), in 1929 - 16, in 1931 - 16 (0.4%), in 1932 - 3, in 1933 - 2, in 1939 - 1. The property of the Jewish community consisted of a synagogue in Szkolna Street and a fenced cemetery in 1925. The organisations mentioned above were no longer active.

In 1932, the Jewish community in Koronowo was subordinated to the Jewish community in Bydgoszcz, along with other abolished communities from the Bydgoszcz district, in Solec Kujawski and Fordon. Bernard Kaczorek managed the assets of the municipality. On 4 January 1934, he handed it over to the municipal administration in Bydgoszcz. The community authorities in Bydgoszcz complained that in the period between the inventory of the property on 14 September 1931 and the takeover in 1934, the Jews of Koronowo sold off components of the property and brought the synagogue to ruin. Following this, the building of the synagogue was sold on 15 October 1938 by the community board in Bydgoszcz to the “Sokól” Gymnastic Society (Polish: Towarzystwo Gimnastyczne „Sokół”) for 4,000 zloty. After the outbreak of World War II, the only Jew living in Koronowo was deported by the Germans on 18 December 1939.

The synagogue has survived to the present day. During the occupation years, it was used as a German military store, after 1945 temporarily as a department store, then as a cinema. In 2010, the disused building became municipal property. It was restored a few years later. A memorial plaque with an inscription in Polish and Hebrew reminds us of its former function.

Initially, the dead from Koronowo were buried in Sępólno Krajeńskie. Its cemetery was established in the first half of the 19th century in the suburbs, on a small hill in an uninhabited area, now located in the eastern part of the town, on Kolejowa Street (Polish: ul. Kolejowa) (plot 546). The cemetery area is 0.353 hectares; it stretches on a plan similar to a square or rhombus. It was divided into two quarters. Over time, it was surrounded by a brick wall, part of which survives on the east and south-west sides. The last burial of Henry Cohn took place on 6 November 1933.

The cemetery was partially destroyed during the war and deteriorated after 1945. In 1955, the Department of Religious Affairs of the Presidium of the Provincial National Council in Bydgoszcz planned to liquidate the cemetery; a municipal cemetery was to be established in its place. The Office for Religious Affairs in Warsaw considered this type of action inappropriate, so the plan was abandoned. Today, the cemetery is bordered on the east by arable land, on the north and west by wasteland, and on the south, i.e. from Kotomierska Street (Polish: ul. Kotomierska), by a road. The area is not wooded. About 30 tombstones and about 50 tombstones of non-existent tombstones have been preserved. Those that survived were made of sandstone, terrazzo and concrete. They date from the fourth quarter of the 19th century to the early 20th century, the oldest from 1870. Koronowo’s necropolis was entered in the register of monuments on 3 January 1990 (decision no. A-241).

Reference

• Dzieje Koronowa, ed. D. Karczewski, Koronowo 2009.
• T. Kawski, Gminy żydowskie pogranicza Wielkopolski, Mazowsza i Pomorza w latach 1918–1942, Toruń 2007.

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