In 1772, the town had seven Jewish residents (3% of the total population), in 1816 – 12 (2%), in 1833 – 54 (8%), in 1849 – 46 (6%), in 1860 – 38 (5%), in 1871 – 13 (2%), in 1885 – 10 (1%), in 1892 – 10 (ca. 1%), in 1905 – three, and in 1910 – four (0.5%). They were formally members of the Jewish community in Szubin, even as late as 1836. However, they may have made attempts to establish an independent community in the period from the 1820s to the 1850s. Pointing to this is an archival fonds held in the State Archives in Bydgoszcz – Vital Records of the Jewish Religious Community in Rynarzewo, Szubin District (1823–1852). It contains registries of births (1823–1829, 1830–1851), weddings (1824–1832, 1835–1851), and deaths (1824–1849). The 1933 property register drawn up by the board of the Jewish community in Szubin lists, among others, the Jewish cemetery in Rynarzewo (its value was estimated at 1 zloty), a residential house next to the cemetery (2,500 zlotys) and 4 morgens of land (300 zlotys) with the annotation “planted, forested.”

The Description

The Jewish cemetery in Rynarzewo was probably established in the first half of the 19th century, as can be logically concluded from the demographic data of the local Jewish community. It is located to the west of the town, in a small forest (the so-called Municipal or Rynarzewski Forest), on the left side of the road leading from Rynarzewo to Szkocja, near the Gąsawka River. Today, it is situated on the western edge of the town, at Powstańców Wielkopolskich Street. It is a rectangular plot with an area of ca. 0.05 ha; it is registered as parcel no. 3188/2.

The last burial at the site was supposedly held in 1905, but no tombstones or traces of graves have survived. The area is overgrown with birch, oak, and maple trees and shrubs. A commemorative plaque was unveiled at the site on 23 September 2019, with an inscription reading: “Jewish cemetery in Rynarzewo. In memory of the Jews buried here." It was placed on the initiative of the Ahavas Torah Association with the support of the Lehstaedt family and the Szubin Forestry Management.

Author of the note: Tomasz Kawski

Bibliography

• Die Abwanderung der Juden aus der Provinz Posen. Denkschrift im Auftrage des Verbandes der Dautschen Juden gefertigt von seinem ersten Schriftführer Justizrat Bernhard Breslauer, Berlin 1909, p. 16.
• A. Heppner, I. Herzberg, Aus Verganheit und Gegenwart der Juden und der jüdischen Gemeinden in den Posener Landen, Koschmin–Bromberg 1904–1909, p. 901.
• T. Kawski, “Inwentarze gmin żydowskich z Pomorza i Wielkopolski wschodniej w okresie międzywojennym (1918/20–1939),” Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej 2006, no. 1, pp. 90–91.
• T. Kawski, Inwentarze gmin żydowskich z ziem polskich 1918–1939. Studium źródłoznawcze, Bydgoszcz 2021.
• Verzeichniss samtlicher naturalisirten Israeliten im Großherzogthum Poßen, Bromberg 1836, pp. 116–117.
• Verzeichniss aller Ortschaften des Bromberger Regierungs-Bezirks: mit einer geographisch-statistischen Übersicht derselben, Bromberg 1833, p. 106.

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