In the first half of the 19th century, the size of the Jewish community in Skierniewice increased from 12 people (1798; 1% of the population) to as many as 700 (1847; 27%). In 1826, a “Jewish district” was established in the town, delimited by the erstwhile streets Barania, Poprzeczna, Rawska, and Stodolna. Jews were obliged to live within its perimeter until the 1860s. At that time, the Jewish people of Skierniewice lived mostly off petty trade and crafts and were members of the kehillot in Łowicz and Sochaczew. The town experienced an influx of Jewish migrants after the construction of the Warsaw-Vienna Railway and the subsequent establishment of a railway junction in Skierniewice. An independent religious community was formed in Skierniewice in 1850. At the point, it already owned a cemetery, and soon founded a synagogue, a mikveh, and a religious school. The Chevra Kadisha burial society was also established in the town.

In 1886, Tzaddik Shimon Kalish (1857–1926) settled in Skierniewice with his court. This led to the growth of Hasidic influences in the town, which became a pilgrimage site for the tzaddik’s followers. Another well-known rabbi from Skierniewice was Meir Yechiel Halevi Halstock. He was active in Skierniewice in the late 19th century and later went on to serve as the tzaddik of Ostrowiec. Just before the outbreak of World War I, there were 4,300 Jews in Skierniewice, constituting over 44% of the total population.

At the turn of the 20th century, the local Jewish community boasted numerous institutions and organisations and was represented in the Municipal Council. It was a period of intensified political activity in the town. The most influential group among Jews was the Orthodox Agudath, but there were also many supporters of the socialist Bund. The Jewish Credit and Loan Fund (Polish: Żydowska Kasa Kredytowo-Pożyczkowa), commonly known as the Jewish Bank, was established in Skierniewice in the interwar period. At the time, the town had over 4,000 Jewish residents, making up one fifth of the total population (1931). The professional structure of the Jewish community remained largely unchanged, with most of its members making a living from petty trade and crafts.

Skierniewice was invaded by the Wehrmacht in September 1939. The Germans immediately began to persecute and murder local Jews. The synagogue was set on fire in October. In 1940, a group of ca. 2,000 Jews from Łódź and nearby towns was displaced to Skierniewice. As a result, the population of the already overcrowded local ghetto, established in October of that year, rose to 6,500 people. The district was liquidated at the turn of April 1941. All its prisoners, around 5,000 people in total, were driven on foot to Warsaw via Rawa Mazowiecka. The community was not revived after the war.

The Description

The first Jewish cemetery in Skierniewice was founded in 1828 on the bank of the Łupia River, at today’s Strobowska Street. Beforehand, the local Jews had buried their dead in Łowicz and probably also in Sochaczew and Wyszogród. The cemetery was closed by the municipal authorities in 1919 for sanitary reasons. For the several following years, the prohibition was not strictly observed – Tzaddik Shimon Bornstein, son of Menachem Mendel of Vurka (known as the Silent Tzaddik), was buried in the cemetery in Strobowska Street as late as October 1925.

During World War II, the Germans destroyed the cemetery, using the matzevot in river training. The site continued to fall into decline after the war. It currently covers an area of 0.861 ha and is overgrown with dense vegetation. In 1989, the Nissenbaum Family Foundation cleaned up and fenced the premises. In 1993, members of the Society of Friends of Skierniewice (Polish: Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Skierniewic) returned ten fragments of recovered tombstones to the cemetery and founded a modern matzeva-shaped monument. The original ohel of the tzaddik has also been preserved. A concrete sarcophagus and a new epitaph plate have been placed inside on the initiative of the “Ohelim of Tzaddikim” Association (Polish: stowarzyszenie „Ohele Cadyków”). The cemetery was entered into the register of monuments in 1992.

The new Jewish cemetery in Skierniewice was established in the interwar period, in the south-eastern suburbs of the city. When the old necropolis in Strobowska Street was closed in 1919, the Jewish community bought a rectangular plot of land with an area of 1.751 ha, perpendicular to today’s Graniczna Street. Soon after the purchase, the kehilla started to raise funds for the construction of a fence.

The cemetery suffered significant damages during World War II and in the post-war years. As a result, only ca. 90 tombstones have been preserved on the premises. Most were returned to the site during the restoration works carried out in the 1990s of by the Society of Friends of Skierniewice, which is why many matzevot do not mark the proper graves and some stand upside-down. The surviving slabs are made of sandstone and almost exclusively bear inscriptions in Hebrew. Their pediments are decorated with bas-reliefs typical for traditional Jewish sepulchral art. The new cemetery in Skierniewice was also entered into the register of monuments in 1992.

A modern matzeva-shaped slab stands at the entrance to the new cemetery. Another monument in the shape of a matzeva has been placed several dozen metres farther. It is adorned with a bas-relief depicting candles and the Hebrew acronym of the words “Here lies.” The monument also includes a short outline of the history of the Skierniewice Jews. To the right of the entrance, there is a mass grave of 46 people murdered by the Germans during World War II. Their bodies were buried at the site in 1947 on the initiative of Chaim Frenkel, with the help of members of the Jewish Committee. The original monument standing above the mass grave has been preserved. The cemetery also holds individual tombstones of Holocaust victims erected after the war by their family members. The necropolis is fenced with wire mesh and remains under the care of the Society of Friends of Skierniewice.

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