Old Jewish cemetery Swinoujscie / Świnoujście

At the beginning of the 19th century, there were still no Jews living in Swinoujscie. It was not until 1816 that two merchants settled here, who soon founded large and widely ramified families. They were Fürchtegott Isenthal and Jakob Benjamin Ehrlich. Two years later, the third merchant, Joseph Jacob Jacoby, joined them. Later, the Riegel, Kantorowicz and Stargarder families followed. Over the years, most of these families were related by blood or marriage.  The number of Jews increased very slowly. In 1925, the town was home to 128 Jewish citizens. This meant that their share of the town's population was below the national average, which was one percent. The Jewish community first came into the public eye in 1821 when they asked for a burial place on the occasion of a death. For ritual reasons, they wanted their own cemetery for their dead. A small hill near the old Protestant cemetery (Friedenstraße, today Chopina Str.) was chosen for this purpose. This burial site was later called the "Old Jewish Cemetery".

However, when the space was no longer sufficient in 1875 and the city refused to enlarge it, another burial site had to be found. The town provided dune land near the old Ahlbecker Landstraße for a new Jewish cemetery, which was used until 1938. A dispute now arose over the old Jewish cemetery. After long negotiations, the Jewish community was prepared to cede the old cemetery in exchange for a piece of land adjacent to the new cemetery. The remains of the deceased were carefully reburied and laid to rest for the second time in the new Jewish cemetery.

 

Source https://www.swinemuende.eu/kirchen_in_swinemuende.htm