Miroslawiec Jewish Cemetery

The Jewish cemetery in Mirosławiec is one of the oldest and largest Jewish necropolises in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship – it was established in the 17th century. It is located in the northern part of the city, next to the Catholic cemetery, at Parkowa Street. The Jewish community in the town had a synagogue and a Talmudic school (yeshiva). In its heyday in the 18th century, it had about 1,400 people. The Nazi period brought down this community. In 1938, the Jewish inhabitants of Mirosławiec were forced to sell their property and leave the town. The cemetery fell victim to vandalism during Kristallnacht. After World War II, the cemetery was also gradually destroyed. In 1983 it was entered in the register of monuments, and at the end of the 1980s the cemetery area was cleaned up. In 1992, there were still about 200 tombstones in the necropolis. The cemetery wall and old trees have also been preserved.
(West Pomeranian Encyclopedia; http://encyklopedia.szczecin.pl)

The Jewish cemetery in Mirosławiec was established in the 17th century and is one of the oldest Jewish necropolises in Pomerania.
Jews came to Mirosławiec in the 16th century as a result of the persecution they experienced in Brandenburg, from where they were expelled in 1510-1573. There was a Jewish religious community in Mirosławiec. In 1770, a synagogue was erected at the Mill Gate. The community also maintained its own school. In the years 1791-1815 the kehilla was headed by Rabbi Akiva Eiger, later assistant rabbi in Poznań. He was also the head of the local yeshiva. Akiva Eiger was an outstanding personality in the Jewish community. The Jewish community in Mirosławiec had a special, supra-regional significance, as it was perceived as a “matrix” to the Jewish community of Berlin.