Zlocieniec Jewish Cemetery

The Jewish cemetery in Złocieniec was probably established after 1840 in the meadows west of the town, at the later Birkholzstrasse (now Brzozowa Street). The Jewish community already existed in the city for several dozen years, but earlier it used the cemetery in neighboring Siemczyno, which was closed around 1815. Perhaps, however, with a small number of Jews in Złocieniec (in 1812 - 22 people, in 1831 - 74), the dead were still buried there, and therefore the Jewish cemetery in Złocieniec was established only when the local community became too numerous. In 1849, 118 Jews lived there and it was already necessary to have a cemetery of their own. The most numerous were the followers of Judaism in Złocieniec in 1898, when the city was inhabited by 140 people of Jewish origin, in later years their number decreased - in 1907 there were only 75 of them, and in 1925 their number barely exceeded 50 people. The Jewish cemetery in Złocieniec was small - it had an area of ​​about 0.1 ha, was simply arranged, and was provided with a metal, rather than the most commonly used stone, fence. Due to its peripheral location, the necropolis avoided devastation during the Kristallnacht (November 9-10, 1938), when the synagogue in Złocieniec was demolished. It also survived the Second World War. Even in the 1950s, although it was already devastated, there were still tombstones, usually made of sandstone. In the following years, some of them were converted by the inhabitants of Złocieniec into rolling bars (wheels used for sharpening household tools) - one of them was sent to the Museum Chamber in Złocieniec in 2006. The cemetery itself was completely devastated and liquidated in the 1970s, and in its place a building materials warehouse was erected. Currently, it is a private property, on which a residential building has recently been built. (West Pomeranian Encyclopedia; http://encyklopedia.szczecin.pl) At the beginning of the existence of the community, its deceased members were buried in the Jewish cemetery in Siemczyno (Heinrichsdorf), located 10 km east of Złocieniec. The Jewish cemetery in Złocieniec was established more or less at the same time as the synagogue, i.e. after 1840. It was located in the western part of the city, at Birkholzer Straße (Brzozowa Street), directly on the railway route leading from Złocieniec through Stargard Szczeciński (Stargard) to Szczecin (Stettin). Initially, the cemetery was surrounded by meadows, and only after World War I did the development of these areas begin. As Erwin Jolitz recalls, the cemetery area was surrounded by an iron fence, and there was a small grocery store nearby. After the war, the Jews left the town, but the cemetery remained untouched, only abandoned and gradually overgrown with weeds. Today, there is nothing in this place that would remind you of the existence of a cemetery. Poles who moved to the city after the war organized a warehouse there. A concrete cover closes the old history of the Jewish cemetery. (sztetl.org.pl)