At the same time, a new road to Frankfurt (Oder) was built, which boosted the town's economy. The first attested Jew, textile merchant Haniel Holländer, appeared in the town in 1821. Despite the many problems posed to him by the village owner, he remained, and others settled after him. They were mainly Jews from Frankfurt (Oder) and Gubin, engaged in trade and land dealing.

In the middle of the 19th century, the Jewish community in Cybince had about 40 members. By 1871, there were already 52 of them, 33 in the town and 19 in the community. The community had no synagogue, only a prayer room. Its location is unknown. In an organizational sense, the Jews of Cybinka were connected to the synagogue community in Rzepin. Documents attest to their presence on the board of the Rzepin community. There was a small private Jewish school in the second half of the 19th century. She can be seen in two photographs from 1905 published in an album published by former German inhabitants of Cybinka in 2003.

With the rise of the Nazis to power in 1933, repression of the town's Jews began. These were mainly humiliations and boycotts to force them to leave Cybinka. The Mann family had already left the village in 1933 for Palestine. Also to Palestine went the most prominent representative of the local Jewish community, Dr Martin Schüler. The Nazis removed the name of his brother Georg from the memorial to those killed in World War I next to the church. Georg Schüler fell on 6 November 1917 with the rank of a non-commissioned officer.

The climax of the persecution was the Kristallnacht, on the night of 9 and 10 November 1938. The action was inspired by members of the SS who came from outside, most probably from Frankfurt (Oder). Jewish houses were ransacked and set on fire, and the cemetery, which was already used as a place for fun and excesses by the local Hitlerjugend group, was demolished. The priest Walter Rettig was temporarily arrested for sheltering two women from the Schüler family in the vicarage.

Almost all the Jews of the town were deported, mainly to Frankfurt (Oder) and further to other cities. Some Jewish children from Cybinka left for England in so-called Kindertransports. This group certainly included Rosemarie Schüler and Hans Louis Fraenkel. The vast majority of Cybinka's Jewish residents did not survive World War II.

Cybinka was also home to so-called Geltungsjuden, people of Jewish origin who were helpful to the regime for various reasons and were to be "tolerated". This was particularly true of the Konietzko family. Later, Lucie and Christa Konietzko moved to Letschin (now Germany), recorded in sources in 1944.

The Description

The Jewish cemetery was established in the first half of the 19th century east of the village, in the woods, near a place called "Lauche" before 1945. From the crossroads in the middle of the village, where the road forks in the direction of Rzepin, go straight on for about 1600 m in the direction of Zielona Góra. Behind the property at 79 Krosno Street (Polish: ul. Krosno), turn left into the forest road, and from there continue about 900 m into the forest. The area of the cemetery is approximately 600 m2.

According to witnesses, there was a small pre-burial house in the cemetery, which had not survived. The cemetery had already been devastated before 1945, but its complete degradation had already occurred in Polish times. The entrance to the necropolis is on the left side of the forest road, by two old acacia trees. You can see the main avenue planted with centuries-old lime trees. There are 13 surviving tombstone frames, 11 plinths and half a tombstone. A Hebrew inscription has survived on the part of the matzeva. Translated into Polish, it reads: "Fromet, wife of Rabbi Leb Goldschmidt. She died (...) Shevat 603 (1843). May her soul be tied up in the sack of the living".

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