Stepnica (Bogusławie) Jewish Cemetery

Information about Stepnica-Bogusławie (village and Jewish cemetery) received from Wojciech Janda, president of the “Biały Grosz” association:
The first mention of the village comes from 1805, when there was an 18th century farm belonging to Stepnica. In the 19th century, there were six empty homesteads, which were leased by the administrator of state goods, Castner. He built new farm buildings and residential houses here. In 1818, he obtained the property right. At the end of the 19th century, Bogusławie belonged to the foundation of the Holtz family, and from 1929 it was owned by the state scientific foundation “Staatlische Forsugstiftund der Insel Riems”, administered by Fischer. In 1892, the estate covered 376 hectares (including 10 hectares of gardens), other sources say that the estate comprised 820 hectares of land. There was a farm, park and cemetery here. In 1905, 40 inhabitants lived here. In 1945, the State Agricultural Farm (PGR) was established here.
The village creates a disordered spatial arrangement, homesteads are scattered. Most of the houses were built in the 20th century (1920s and Polish times). There is a manor house from the 1920s and a monument. The yard of the farm is surrounded by a landscaped park.
In the southern part of the village there is an almost invisible Jewish cemetery from the first half of the 19th century.
The influx of Jews to Stepnica took place at the beginning of the 19th century, after they obtained civil rights in 1812. The growing number of Jews led them to appeal to the authorities to establish a Jewish cemetery in Stepnica. In 1822, the procedure of transferring part of the land belonging to the peasant Johann Radloff, located south-east of Stepnica, to the cemetery area began. The agreement on the transfer of land to the cemetery was concluded on September 26, 1822. It was concluded between the representatives of the Jewish community: Israel Cronheim, Natan Lesinthe, Aaron Wolf and Johann Radloff.
In 1855, as a result of the increase of the Jewish population, a synagogue was established in Stepnica, which was a branch of the synagogue in Kamień Pomorski. In later years, the Jewish population began to decline. In 1925, according to the census, only seven Jews lived in Stepnica.
It is likely that in the near future an information board will be set up at the Jewish cemetery (Mr. Janda has provided the State Forestry with the necessary historical information about this cemetery).

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Preserved historical elements: Three fragments of matzevot, one matzevah base and irregular old trees.
(cmentarzezydowskie.org)

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The Jewish cemetery in Bogusławie (now part of the town of Stepnica) was established in the mid-19th century near the Birkenwalde farm (now in the southern part of the former village of Bogusławie), approximately 2 km east of Stepnica. In 1871, there were 21 Jews living in this village. Cohn and Levy from Żarnów and Hirschbaum from Rzystnów, which belonged to the communes in Kamień Pomorski and Wolin with their own cemeteries. However, these families wanted to have their own necropolis closer to their homes. Until the 1930s, several dozen people were buried there. Currently, the cemetery is barely identifiable in the field, though fragments of tombstones can still be found, and an oak row of old cemetery plantings has also been preserved.
(West Pomeranian Encyclopedia; http://encyklopedia.szczecin.pl)