Schwerin
General information: First Jewish presence: 1266; peak Jewish population: 391 in 1875; Jewish population in 1933: 151
Summary: A small number of Jews were permitted to live in Schwerin
in 1267. After centuries of pogroms, burnings at the stake
and expulsions, Jews were permitted to return to Schwerin
in 1679, albeit with restrictions: in addition to being forced
to pay exorbitant taxes and protection money, they were
limited to certain business activities. As a result, the Jewish
population of that period never exceeded thirty.
When these cumbersome restrictions were relaxed in the
mid-1700s, more Jews moved to Schwerin. Although the
community received permission to build a synagogue in
1773, it was not able to gather the necessary funds until
1819. Shortly after the inauguration of the synagogue, the
anti-Jewish Hep-Hep riots erupted: angry crowds marched
in front of the synagogue chanting “Kick out the Jews,” but
Schwerin Jews, unlike their contemporaries in other towns
and cities, were spared the brunt of the pogrom.
Beginning in 1933, when the Nazis instituted the anti-
Jewish boycott, Jews started to leave Schwerin in large
numbers. Later, on Pogrom Night (November 1938), the
interior of the synagogue was ransacked, after which the
contents were burned in one of the city’s squares. Forbidden
to set the synagogue on fire because of its proximity to many
homes, the Nazis forced the Jews to tear down the building
themselves. By 1942, Schwerin’s remaining Jews had all been
deported.
Three years after the war, a group of Jews returned to
Schwerin and founded a new Jewish community. By 1947,
100 Jews lived there. After buying two homes on the street
on which the old synagogue once stood, the community
converted one into a synagogue and the other into a
community center. The Jewish population dwindled during
the ensuing decades (three members in 1980), but an influx
of Jewish arrivals from the former Soviet Union rejuvenated
the defunct community. In 2005, 1,000 Jews lived in
Schwerin (more than double the peak pre-war population).
In 1951, a memorial plaque was unveiled at the former
synagogue site, and in 1984, planning commenced for
a building that would house a miniature replica of the
destroyed synagogue. (The project was funded by the Ford
Foundation and the State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.)
Author / Sources: Moshe Finkel
Sources: EJL, LJG, SIA, WDJMV
Sources: EJL, LJG, SIA, WDJMV
Located in: mecklenburg-western-pomerania