In 1299, Henry III granted a privilege to the Jews of Głogów, which regulated the rights and duties of people, property issues, as well as economic and religious matters. The first synagogue and Jewish houses were located near the castle, in the vicinity of the Brzostowska Gate, in an area under the Duke's jurisdiction.

In 1526, Głogów, along with the whole of Silesia, came under the rule of the Habsburgs. In 1582, Emperor Rudolf II issued an edict, under which Jews were expelled from Silesia and the only towns where they could stay were Głogów and Biała. In 1636, a synagogue was erected in the area of the former ducal jurydyka, on Bailstraße.

In the early 19th century, in Głogów, there was one of the largest Jewish communities in Prussia. Its members took an active part in the life of the town - at least 11 Jews from Głogów were members of the town council, others performed high public functions. Jews had a significant influence on the intellectual and spiritual life of the town, and Głogów was called the town of "wise men and scribes".

In the period of 1891 to 1892, a new synagogue was built on Wingenstraße (presently Hugo Kołłątaja Street, ul. Hugo Kołłątaja), designed by architects from Berlin - Jürgen Kröger and Hans Abesser. The brick building of the temple was built in the eclectic style with elements of Neo-Gothic, Moorish and Neo-Renaissance styles and was considered one of the most beautiful synagogues in Germany. The opening ceremony of the synagogue took place on 15 September 1892. The building survived until 1938, when it was set on fire during Kristallnacht. Its remains were blown up and the ruins were demolished.

In 1993, on the 55th anniversary of the burning of the synagogue, a lapidarium and obelisk that contained the following inscriptions in Polish and German were unveiled on Hugo Kołłątaja Street: "This monument, erected by the residents of Głogów in recognition of the eternal merits of the Jewish community and its last spiritual leader, Rabbi Doctor Leopold Lucas, for the socio-cultural development of the city, is located on the site of the synagogue destroyed by the Nazis in 1938, and commemorates the tragedy of the Jews who lived in the area for over 700 years, until their displacement in 1942. City Council in Głogów".

The Description

After Silesia came under Prussian rule, the Jews were granted the right to have their own necropolis. King Frederick II of Prussia recognised and confirmed the right of the Jews of Głogów to have their own cemetery, and in a privilege of 1743, he agreed for them to continue using the site: "We are giving them this place and square for their burials. In return for an annual rent of 60 thalers, rounded up to 24 good groschen, to be paid to our royal office in Głogów on Saint Michael's Day, every year, they are allowed to keep and use that place"  .

The Jews from Głogów also had to comply with legal regulations related to the organisation of funerals and a ban on premature burials. The dead could only be buried three days after their death, which was a violation of Jewish religious rules. In addition, all deaths had to be reported to the city council because an official had to issue a death certificate.

During another war in Silesia, the cemetery suffered more damage.  When, in the years 1813–1814, Głogów, previously captured by the French army during the Napoleonic Wars, was besieged by Prussian and Russian troops, tombstones from the Jewish and Evangelical cemeteries were used to build a fortress.

In 1857, the cemetery was finally liquidated due to the construction of the railway line from Głogów to Leszno. At that time, it was decided to exhume 300 bodies and transfer them to a new cemetery; in 1906, when successive parts of the necropolis were expropriated, the remains of another 106 people were exhumed. Marcus Brann described 10 epitaphs from the tombstones of Jews who died in the 17th and 18th centuries, located at that cemetery. They included: Abigedor, the son of Scheor Phöbus [Caro]; Gad, the son of Samuel; Menachem Mendel, the son of Baruch; Reb Israel, the son of Reb Jonas Theomim; Saul, the son of Josuy [Heschel]; Elchanan, the son of Chaim Sachs; Jesaia, the son of Isarel Theonim; Chaim, the son of Joseph ha-Levi Caro; Jeh. Loeb, the son of Samuel and Salomo Dob Baer, the son of Zebi Hirsch.

The most famous person buried in the cemetery was eminent philosopher Salomon Maimon (1754-1800), although both his burial place and the circumstances of his burial were a legend for many years. Maimon spent the last years of his life in Lower Silesia, at the estate of his supporter - Count Heinrich W.A. von Kalckreuth, in Podbrzezie Dolne near Kożuchów (Nieder Siegersdorf). Although he came from an Orthodox Jewish family, he stopped following Judaism, he became a philosopher-denominationalist and his rational views were highly controversial in Orthodox Jewish circles. Maimon's wish was to be buried on the estate of his patron but the request was not honoured. After his death in 1800, Salomon Maimon was laid to rest in the Jewish cemetery in Głogów but it was not a religious burial and, according to one of the stories, as a heretic, atheist and freethinker, he was buried next to the cemetery wall.

No traces of that Jewish cemetery have survived to the present day. At the beginning of the 20th century, a municipal power station was built on the site (on what is now Nadbrzeżna Street, ul. Nadbrzeżna). In 1951, during excavations, many tombstones were discovered in that area but their further fate remains unknown. Two tombstones from the cemetery were found in 1985, in the basement of the town hall in Głogów - one from the grave of Friedel, the wife of Rabbi Schimon, and the other one from the grave of Michal, the son of Anschil Katz. Over time, several other tombstones from the Jewish cemeteries in Głogów were moved to the town hall in Głogów, and now, they are part of the collection of the Museum of Archaeology and History in Głogów (Polish: Muzeum Archeologiczno-Historyczne w Głogowie).

Author of the note: Tamara Włodarczyk

References

• Berndt Robert, Geschichte der Juden in Gross-Glogau, Glogau 1873.
• Blaschke J., Geschichte der Stadt Glogau und des Glogauer Landes, mit 84 Bildern, Karten und Plänen, Glogau 1913.
• Brann M., Geschichte der Juden in Schlesien, Breslau 1896-1917.
• Gemeinde - Glogau, "Jüdisches Volksblatt", 14 Dezember 1906, 12 Jg, no. 50.
• Lucas F. D., Heitmann M., Żydzi głogowscy. Dzieje i kultura, transl. by J. Obruśnik-Jagla, Głogów 2013.
• Heitmann M., Zur Geschichte der Juden in Glogau [in:] Glogau im Wandel der Zeiten, Würzburg l992.

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