With the onset of Prussian rule in 1772, the Jews of the Przedmieście were forced to resettle within the city limits. They then occupied the southern part of the market square along Zduńska Street (Polish: ul. Zduńska) near the town walls. They soon received permission to build a new synagogue and establish a cemetery on Lake Borówno Wielkie.

The brick synagogue was built between 1772 and 1780 on the corner of today's Zduńska and Szkolna Streets (Polish: ul. Zduńska and Szkolna). It was a half-timbered building with a dark grey slate roof. It existed until 1939, and its value was still estimated at 600 zloty in March 1939. The Germans demolished it in late 1939 and early 1940. In addition, the community's real estate assets included a mortuary and a garden of the area of half a morgen, located in Zduńska Street. The garden was leased, and the money raised was used to pay those who helped in the synagogue.

The number of Jews in Skarszewy increased until the second half of the 19th century, and then gradually decreased from the last quarter of the 19th century. In 1780, there were 150 Jews (27.6% of the total population), in 1871 - 226, in 1895 - 165, in 1910 - 106, in 1918 - 60, in 1921 - 40 (1.3%), in 1923 - 26 (8 families), in 1939 - 12 families.

After 1920, most German Jews left Skarszewy. Only two families remained, but another 10 families arrived in time from the depths of the Polish lands. With the depopulation of the 1920s, the community's activities were reduced to a minimum. Lucja Meyer handled current affairs; when necessary, in the absence of a permanent budget, ad hoc funds were raised. There was no rabbi. A cantor from Gdansk was brought in for holidays, and the Meyer brothers' local butchers acted as shochetim. They took no charges for their service.

The community survived until 1932. It was initially merged with the Jewish community in Świecie, and from 1933, together with the communities from the Starogard and Tczew districts, it became part of the Jewish religious community in Starogard (Gdański). Between 1936 and 1939 Jewish families lived in Skarszewy: Maks Donskoj (farmer, Kościerska Street), Abraham Meyer (butcher, Rynek 24), Zygfried Meyer (butcher, Rynek 24), Jerzy Sielmann (merchant, Św. Jana 1), Leon Sielmann (merchant, Św. Jana 1), Abraham Werg(k)zweig (merchant, Św. Jana 18), Frida Herzberg (property owner), Guido Meyer.

After the outbreak of war, 10 immigrant families left the town, with only two autochthonous "German" families remaining. The first persecutions took place as early as 1 September 1939. A police-military unit from the Free City of Gdańsk stopped a group of Jews in Skarszewy and shot them in the cemetery.

The Description

The cemetery was established around 1780, south of Skarszewy. It is situated about 3 km away, on the high southern shore of Borówno Wielkie Lake, near the road leading to Starogard Gdański, currently in Starogardzka Street (Polish: ul. Starogardzka), within the limits of Bączek village land, west of the disused Pszczółki - Starogard Gdański railway line, by a forest road running later along the tracks. Today it is a large forest plot no. 15/3 (the cemetery area is not geodetically separated). The boundaries of the necropolis are partly defined by a road (south), a row of fieldstones (south-east) and a woodland path (west). The cemetery was in use until 1939. There was a funeral home in the north-eastern part, and a wall surrounded the whole area.

In the autumn of 1939, about 250 Poles and Jews from Skarszewy, the surrounding villages and Kościerzyna were shot in the cemetery. This fact is commemorated by the so-called Mass Grave No. 1, which was marked in 1962 (the corpses were exhumed and burnt at the end of the war). During World War II, the forest and cemetery were the property of the local NSDAP kreisleiter Ernst Günther Modrow. In 1940, some graves and the brick fence were blown up.

After the war, the cemetery was systematically devastated. The population dismantled the remains of the fence, the pre-burial house and the massive wrought-iron gate. Gravestones were smashed, and graves were dug up. In the 1970s, during the liquidation of the Evangelical Cemetery in Skarszewy, matzevot from the Jewish cemetery were also taken away, especially those made of granite and black marble; only damaged sandstone ones remained. Several (at least 15) tombstones with Hebrew and German inscriptions have survived, including 3 slightly damaged ones (e.g. Schaul Czarlinski 1841-1891 and Aron Samuel Warschwitz, d. 1874). Several others are relatively legible e.g. Falk Falkmann and Henriette Eisenstadt née Herzberg. It is also possible to identify 30-40 grave frames. In 1989, some gravestones in the eastern section were arranged in rows. They are currently in five clusters (one touches the border in the north-eastern part, another in the south-western and western parts). The cemetery was entered into the register of monuments under no. 1289 (former 1063) by virtue of a decision of Provincial Conservator of Monuments in Gdańsk of 16 October 1989.

Author of the note: Tomasz Kawski

References

• Domańska H., Kamienne drzewo płaczu, Gdańsk 1991.
• Rezmer W., Gmina Wyznaniowa Żydowska Okręgu Kartuskiego w latach 1920–1939, [in:] Gminy Wyznaniowe Żydowskie Gminy Wyznaniowe Żydowskie  w województwie pomorskim w okresie międzywojennym (1920–1939), Toruń 1995.
• Salinger G., Zur Erinnerung und zum Gedenken. Die einstigen jüdischen Gemeinden Pommerns, Bd. 2, New York 2006, p. 472.
• Wojciechowski M., Gmina Wyznaniowa Żydowska w Starogardzie w latach 1920–1939, [in:] Gminy Wyznaniowe Żydowskie Gminy Wyznaniowe Żydowskie  w województwie pomorskim w okresie międzywojennym (1920–1939), Toruń 1995.
• Wołos M., Cmentarze żydowskie w województwie w latach 1920–1939, [in:] Gminy Wyznaniowe Żydowskie Gminy Wyznaniowe Żydowskie  w województwie pomorskim w okresie międzywojennym (1920–1939), Toruń 1995.

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