Schivelbein

Summary: Schivelbein’s first Jewish family settled there in or around the year 1700. By 1787, five protected Jews and their families lived in the town. The community employed a gravedigger, a Schulklopfer (a beadle whose job it was to call the community to prayer in the synagogue by knocking on doors) and, during the years 1890 to 1893, a rabbi; a teacher performed the duties of chazzan and shochet. We also know that Schivelbein was home to a Jewish cemetery. In 1881, as anti-Semitic riots swept Pomerania, Jewishowned shops were vandalized and looted. Nevertheless, several Schivelbein Jews were elected to the city and district councils in or around 1900. One hundred and forty-eight Jews lived in Schivelbein in 1933, one of the largest Jewish communities in the region. The teacher/chazzan instructed 20 Jewish schoolchildren (from the public elementary and secondary schools) that year, and three charity associations were active in the community: a chevra kadisha (founded in 1862), a women’s organization (founded in 1871) and the Samuel Brothers’ Foundation, the last of which aided needy students and brides. In 1934/35, Schivelbein was the seat of a district rabbinate that oversaw 20 communities. On Pogrom Night, the synagogue was burned down, Jewish men were arrested and the cemetery was desecrated, after which many Schivelbein Jews emigrated from or relocated within Germany. In February 1940, the remaining Jews were deported to Lublin. At least 11 Schivelbein Jews perished in the Shoah. The former synagogue site now accommodates a park. Schivelbein’s Jewish cemetery has been desecrated on several occasions.

Author / Sources: Heidemarie Wawrzyn
Sources: EJL, FJG, HKJP, YV
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