The 1845 report of the Prussian Minister for Ecclesiastical Affairs and Education mentions a synagogue operating in Rzepin. Its existence is also confirmed by archival documents from 1854. Its location is unknown. According to available information, the few Jews living in the town after World War I used a prayer room in Cybinka.

In 1855, the town had a population of 3,500, only 26 of them Jews. The most prominent Jewish families in 19th-century Rzepin were the Dresls and the Simons; at the end of the century, they moved to Berlin and Chemnitz.

In 1932, there were 33 Jews living in the town, constituting 0.6% of its population. The Rzepin religious community included the inhabitants of 12 nearby localities. This was reflected in the composition of the community board, whose first chairman was Doctor Rosenberg from Rzepin, the second – Schüler from Cybinka, and the third – Bader from Torzym.

The lot of Rzepin Jews during the Nazi period remains mostly unknown. The Yad Vashem database lists six people born in Rzepin and residing in Berlin. All of them perished in the Holocaust.

In 1940, the Germans began construction works on the so-called Reich Autobahn from Frankfurt an der Oder to Łódź via Poznań. They used great numbers of forced labourers, including Jews from the Łódź ghetto and other "provincial ghettos" in Reichsgau Wartheland. Labour camps for the workers were located in 37 towns along the planned motorway. Two of them were established near Rzepin. Until the summer of 1943, some 200–360 Jews worked in arduous conditions. Many of them died and were probably buried in mass graves at the Jewish cemetery in Rzepin. After the liquidation of the camps, the surviving prisoners were transported to the Nazi German Auschwitz extermination camp. On 9 May 1985, a commemorative boulder was unveiled in the centre of Rzepin in memory of the forced labourers who were murdered by Germans or who died of exhaustion and emaciation.

The Description

The Jewish cemetery in Rzepin is located in a small, wooded area in the eastern part of the town, by the road to Torzym (Poznańska Street), ca. 100 meters north-east of the Poznańskiego Roundabout. It is a plot with an area of ca. 0.1 ha. Little is known about the history of the cemetery. It likely dates back to the 19th century. Before 1939, the cemetery was surrounded with a wall, with the entrance located on its south-western side. During World War II, the site was almost completely destroyed. On 20 June 1972, the Presidium of the Provincial National Council in Zielona Góra issued a formal permission for the early liquidation of the cemetery in order to covert the site into a green area. The wall delimiting the boundaries of the necropolis was pulled down. Today, the area is overgrown with a young deciduous forest. Only six visible remains of tombstones have survived. They are scattered around the area and overgrown. The oldest partially preserved tombstone dates back to 1880. Comparing the current condition of the necropolis against cemetery documentation drawn up in 2010, it can be concluded that the damages to the slabs have increased significantly, and some previously documented fragments cannot be found. The destruction of cemetery is also caused by illegal dumping of construction debris and rubbish at the site.

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