The kahal in Szreńsk developed in the mid-18th century, when Jews expelled from Mława in 1776 settled here. In 1830, the Synagogue Supervision in Szreńsk numbered 783 people. In the town there was a wooden synagogue and numerous prayer houses. In 1857 the Jewish community already numbered 865 people. However, at the beginning of the 20th century it decreased significantly as a result of mass emigration. Zionist organisations operated in the city since 1902.

In the interwar period, there was a Jewish People's Bank in the town and a beth midrash operated there. A Hebrew school was established as early as 1917. The census of 1921 showed that 613 Jews lived here.

Following the outbreak of World War II, Szreńsk was incorporated into Germany. In 1940, the Germans created a ghetto, which also included Jews from nearby Bieżuń. Jewish property was confiscated, murders and extortions ran rampant. The Germans destroyed the synagogue and the bet midrash. Ultimately, the Jews from Szreńsk were deported to the ghetto in Mława, and in 1942 they were deported to the German Nazi extermination camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau and Treblinka.

The Description

The old Jewish cemetery is located southeast of the center of Szreńsk, east of the Mławka River, close to the road to Złotów, on plot number 1557. Its boundaries can be approximately marked by a low embankment and a tree cover. It was established in the 18th century. It was mentioned in the documents of the Płock diocese from 1775: 'Jews have their own wooden synagogue in the aforementioned town of Szreńsk, built in the years before, and also their cemetery, two leagues away from the town, behind the stream called Mławka, located in the distance.' The area of the necropolis was approx. 1 ha.

It was destroyed by the Germans in 1941. After 1945, the remains of the tombstones were used as construction material. In the 1980s, the cemetery area was used as arable land. In 1988, employees of the Jewish Historical Institute discovered a single tombstone in the cemetery. It was a matzeva made of erratic boulder, commemorating Tzvi's son of Menachem ha-Levi (d. 09.07.1863). In the 21st century, this monument could not have been located. Currently, the area of the former cemetery is actually a meadow where the lush vegetation makes it impossible to find any traces.

Author of the note: Magda Lucima

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