The establishment of the Jewish community in Twardogóra is linked to the transfer of ownership of the town in 1743 to Count Heinrich Leopold von Reichenbach-Goschütz, who sought to improve its economic situation by bringing in Jews. At that time there was only one Jew living in Twardogóra – Simon Wolf of Pszczyna, who from 1740 onwards was in charge of leasing the town's distillery. In 1744, Jews who had been expelled from Wrocław relocated there. In the 18th century, Twardogóra began to fulfil the function of a suburban municipality of Wrocław. In 1751, there were 22 Jewish families living in Twardogóra and three in the surrounding villages. In the second half of the 18th century, some of the Jewish residents returned to Wrocław. The number of Jews in the town increased until 1812, when it reached 217 people (49 families). After the Emancipation Edict came into force, a dynamic decline in the Jewish population could be observed.

The Jews of Twardogóra were primarily involved in the cloth trade – the town was a well-known cloth centre at the time. An important role was also played by Jewish musicians who played at weddings, christenings and other celebrations.

Initially, the Jewish community in Twardogóra was the largest in the Syców County. In 1848, became a branch community of the Synagogue Precinct in Syców. From 1750,  the Jewish Community Co-operative of Twardogóra had its own rabbi – before 1800, this function was performed by Mose son of Solomon, and then (until 1842) – Mordechai (Markus) son of Baruch Oelsner.

The Jewish community never had its own synagogue – services were held in a rented room – the first prayer hall was leased from Count von Reichenbach-Goschütz in a building owned by him. The annual lease fee was 50 thalers. The hall was specially adapted for worship. At the end of the 18th century, Twardogóra also had a Jewish school with two teachers. After 1842, it ceased its activity due to the decline in the Jewish population.

The Jewish community in Twardogóra was dissolved on 1 October 1936. After World War II, Jewish population did not settle there.

The Description

The exact date of the establishment of the Jewish cemetery in Twardogóra is not known. According to Marcin Wodziński, it had already existed before 1751 – however, the epitaphs from the cemetery, of which there are surviving accounts, are dated 10 years later. Meanwhile, in 1751  there is a reference to a Jewish gravedigger from Twardogóra – Beerel Meyer.

This necropolis served the Jews of the Duchy of Oleśnica: until 1820, the Jewish inhabitants of Syców were buried there, and until 1823 – of Oleśnica. It was located on one of the sandy hills covered with pine trees (called Judenberg), near what was then Moltkestraße. In the 19th century, A wooden funeral home stood in the cemetery.

A 1908 publication of local historian Martin Feist reveals that the oldest surviving gravestones from this cemetery, whose inscriptions were then legible, dated from the last decade of the 18th century, but there were also gravestone that were much older . However, Bernhard Brilling confirmed the existence of a surviving gravestone from 1785 in his study of Twardogóra .

As recently as the early 1930s, the cemetery was used by the Jewish Community of Twardogóra. It was probably closed when the community was dissolved in 1936.

In the early 1930s, The owner of the necropolis was the Reich Association of Jews in Germany (German: Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland). At the time, it consisted of two parcels with a total area of 26 a and 40 square metres. Initially, the property was put up for sale through a broker. Then – after coming under the management of the tax administration – the purchase of the cemetery was offered to the town of Twardogóra, yet the mayor refused to acquire the property, and the tax authorities did not want to sell it to a private individual. Ultimately, the transaction fell through.

After World War II, the cemetery was completely devastated –today there is no trace left of it. A cemetery card drawn up in 1989 by K. Myśliński shows that the necropolis was located on the northwest edge of Twardogóra, about 600 metres from the Market Square, on Sosnowa Street, behind the parish cemetery, at the top of a small hill. It was surrounded by woodland to the north and west, adjoined the parish cemetery to the south, and there was a large sandpit to the north. The necropolis area was turned into a sandpit and used for sand mining. It is currently part of plot no. 1/77 and is located within a wooded excavation site of an inactive sandpit.

Author of the note: Tamara Włodarczyk

Bibliography

• Brilling B., Die jüdischen Gemeinden Mittelschlesiens. Entstehung und Geschichte, Stuttgart 1972.
• Feist M., Festenberg in der ersten Jahrzehnten der preussischen Herrschaft [in:] Zeitschrift des Vereins für Geschichte und Alterthum Schlesiens, Breslau 1908, Bd. 42.
• Franzkowski J., Geschichte der freien Standesherrschaft, der Stadt und landrätlichen Kreises Gross Wartenberg, Gross Wartenberg, 1912, p. 518.
• Führer durch die jüdische Gemeindeverwaltung und Wohlfahrtspflege in Deutschland 1932–1933 / herausgegeben von der Zentralwohlfahrtsstelle der Deutschen Juden, comp. B. Schlesinger, Berlin 1933.
• 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. XI).
• Wodziński M., Hebrajskie inskrypcje na Śląsku XIII–XVIII wieku, Wrocław 1996.

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