Preussisch-Holland

General information: First Jewish presence: 1812; peak Jewish population: approximately 180 in 1870-1880; Jewish population in 1933: 60
Summary: Jews settled in Preussisch-Holland (Polish: Paslek) after the passing of the Jewish emancipation laws of October 11, 1812. The community established a cemetery on Krossener Chaussee in 1817; a Jewish school in 1859 (26 students that same year); and a synagogue on Steinstrasse in 1860. The cemetery was vandalized in 1930. In 1931, Nazis beat a local Jew so severely that he later died of his injuries. Leo Aris and Jakob Rosenberg were the community leaders in 1932; Georg Salinger was president of the representation committee. That year, four Jewish children studied religion in Preussisch-Holland. The Jewish community was dissolved in 1938, at which point only 15 Jews lived in Preussisch-Holland. The synagogue, however, was nevertheless set on fire on Pogrom Night. In May 1939, eight Jews lived in the town; one local Jew, most likely married to a Christian, lived there until October 1942. Preussisch-Holland was the birthplace of Lotte Laserstein, the famous Jewish painter (1898-1993) who was forced to immigrate to Sweden in 1937.
Author / Sources: Esther Sarah Evans
Sources: EJL, FJG, LJG
www.ostpreussen.net
Located in: east-prussia