Stettin, Germany

STETTIN (Polish Szczecin) Pomerania, Germany, today Poland. Although Jews are first mentioned in 1261, they had probably been living in the town for some time. The community appears to have suffered major decimation in the wake of the Black Death persecutions of 1348-49. In 1492-93, the Jews of Stettin, along with all the Jews in Pomerania, were expelled. In the 17th century Jews were again found in Stettin. A modern community developed in 1812, numbering 18 Jews in 1818. By 1843, there were 519 Jews in Stettin. In the 1820s, the community established a cemetery, bath house, and religious school. The first synagogue was built in 1834-35. In the mid-19th century, Jews from Posen and West Prussia settled in Stettin, increasing the population to 1,823. As a result of this immigration, an Orthodox prayer room existed from 1867 in addition to the community synagogue. A new synagogue was built in 1875 and the presence of an organ demonstrated the Liberal orientation of the community. The antisemitic riots which broke out in Pomerania when the Neustettin synagogue was burned down in 1881 led to three days of clashes in Stettin but there was no damage to Jewish property. In 1905, the Jewish population of Stettin was 3,001 (2% of the total). In 1930, the Jewish population was 2,703. The community maintained a wide variety of social, cultural, and welfare associations and institutions, including local branches of the Central Union (C.V.) and the German Zionist Organization; various youth associations; an orphanage; an old age home; a day nursery and day care center, and a lending library In 1933, there were 2,365 Jews living in Stettin. As early as 1933, many community members were taken into "protective" custody by the Nazis and maltreated. In 1934, there were numerous anti-Jewish demonstrations and religious services were disrupted. By 1937, the community numbered 1,903. In October 1938, some 70 Jewish families without German citizenship were deported to Poland. On Kristallnacht (9-10 November 1938), the synagogue and Jewish clubhouses were set on fire and businesses and homes were wrecked and looted. Jewish men were arrested and taken to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Until 1939, the Palestine Office operated in Stettin, organizing the emigration of Jews from the city and its environs. By May 1939, the community numbered 1,117. At least 800 Jews from Stettin were deported to the Lublin district (Poland) on February 1940. The 30 or so children of the orphanage were taken to Berlin and Hamburg, and later deported from there. In 1941-42, the last of the city's Jews, mainly elderly people, who had lived in the community's old age home, were deported also. In October 1942, there were just 79 Jews living in the city, probably protected by marriage to non-Jews. Of the deportees, only a few survived. After 1945, Polish Jews settled in the city and established a new community, but in 1946 some were murdered in the pogroms occurring at the time throughout Poland. Most Jews left the city in the mid-1960s.