As early as 1500, there is supposed to have been a Jewish street, or Judenstraße, in Stargard Szczeciński. However, there is no concrete evidence that at that time (or earlier), there were any Jews in the town. It is known, though, that over 100 years later, in about 1660, itinerant Jewish merchants from Poznań (Ger. Posen) and Brandenburg appeared in this area. They immediately became the cause of conflict as the local craftsmen and clerks treated Jews with dislike, but the elector was interested in supporting the trade in this region, also that of the Jewish population.  It resulted in issuing a rescript on 1 November 1663 directed to the Government of Farther Pomerania (Ger. Hinterpommersche Regierung). The elector ordered all the clerks of Pomerania to allow Jews to trade in this province and to protect them. Those privileges were not free of charge, though, as each Jew who held them was obliged to pay one rose noble a year, i.e. the equivalent of 4 German thalers. One thaler was for the coffer of a given town.

A report of 7 February 1664 issued by the Government of Farther Pomerania said that Jews could only be given permission to trade if all local craftsmen decided as such. The elector rescript issued on 12 February in the town of Kölln an der Spree severely criticized the attitude of Pomeranian clerks, reprimanding them at the same time for not understanding that well-prospering trade was an essential factor of the state growth and that Jewish traders’ activity was far from being illegal. Granting Jews permission to trade and settle in Pomerania could have brought a number of advantages to the local population and to the privy purse. As a consequence of this dispute, a few Jews received passports valid for one year. These were Casper, Jacob Levi, Zadok and Simon Lazarus from Złotowo (Flatow) and Lazarus from Grzmiąca (Gramenz). In 1665, the following persons received the passports: Jacob Moyses from Gorzów Wielkopolskie (Landsberg/Warthe), Moyses Abraham, Casper Joseph, Lazarus Wulff and Moyses Elias from Skwierzyna (Schwerin/Warthe), Jacob Salomon from Pełczyce (Bernstein/Neumark) and others.

Yet, a letter was drawn up (its exact date is unknown) in Stargard Szczeciński, in which the town firmly requested the removal of the Jewish population from its borders. The argument given was that Jews bought out all the pelts, furs and wool in the vicinity so that there were not enough of them for the town inhabitants. In response, the elector reprimanded the town again in a letter of 28 May 1669; he warned the local authorities that displacing Jews from the area was not in his interest and that Stargard should finally comply with his decision. The subsequent letter dated 4 December of the same year ordered Stargard to provide Jews trading in Pomerania with necessary help and protection. Stargard failed to make the Jews leave the town, so on 9 May 1672, the authorities demanded that one additional thaler be allocated from each fee paid by them in exchange for a passport for the needs of the town. The subsequent report prepared by the town authorities dated 2 August of the same year demonstrates the unchanged attitude to the Jewish population. On 13 November 1673, the town issued an act forbidding Jews to trade in the town. A letter addressed to the Government of Farther Pomerania of 2 January 1674 signed by the clerk Somnitz in Kölln an der Spree stated, referring to the resolution of 7 November, that the Jewish population was not required to leave Stargard Szczeciński altogether but could settle in its suburbs where they were allowed to use the privileges granted to them and were entitled to free flats.

On 6 November 1680 in Kölln an der Spree, the elector received another report unfavourable to Jews. The Pomeranian towns, supported by secret advisors (Ger. Geheimrat)[1.1], such as Jena, Köppen and Meinders, complained that the Jewish people seeking privileges were committing fraud or going bankrupt and that as a result of their activities, the remaining population of Pomerania was deprived of food as well as other commodities such as gold, silver and other metals. There was also widespread fear of the plague spreading in Poland at the time.

Unsettling information was also coming from Stargard, which notified about the influx of the Jewish population from the New March (Neumark). The rescript issued on 14 July 1678 permitted 50 Jews from Poland to trade in Pomerania for one year. Meanwhile, Jews from the New March, under the ruling of 15 August 1681, could receive such permission only after a year of staying in Pomerania. It was not until 1682 that the expected bubonic plague broke out in Pomerania, and the Jews, of course, were blamed for bringing it from Poland. A special delegation of deputies from Kamień Pomorski (Cammin) and the remaining state towns in Pomerania submitted a petition aiming to ban Jews from trading in all goods which could spread the germs, i.e. furs, wool, cloth and other clothing. Those merchants who would break the law were to be punished with death. The Jewish kehilla in Stargard Szczeciński was officially established in 1690, as was the case in other towns. The preserved customs register shows clearly that during six years between 1690 and 1696, two Jewish merchants from Stargard sold abroad 6,767 stones [1.2] of wool and 3,676 tens of fur skins, while the rest of the town inhabitants managed to sell only 14,370 stones of wool and 770 tens of furs to Zielona Góra (Grünberg), and 5,333 stones of wool and 3,570 tens of fur skins to Szczecin (Stettin) and other towns of Hither Pomerania (Vorpommern). It leads to the conclusion that the people who significantly contributed to the prosperity of the town were Abraham Arend and Levin Josef, thanks to their excellent performance in wool sales. Unfortunately, in 1700, their period of affluence was brought to an end as tightened terms of trade began to consume a large part of their profits. The other Jews of the town made their living mainly by peddling. It was not a very profitable activity, and as in 1708–1709, they suffered additionally from famine and the subsequent outbreak of the bubonic plague; the amount of taxes had to be reduced by half because they simply could not afford to pay higher rates. In 1696, Abraham Arend received a concession to run a business trimming cloth and linen, as there were not too many businesses of this kind at that time. The owners of the other such establishments most often bought materials from Arend and sold them per item or trimmed them even more. Arnd Abraham, the son of Abraham Arend, was granted a settlement privilege in Stargard Szczeciński in 1697. At that time, the situation of Jews in Pomerania was precarious due to the ambiguous attitude of the Berlin Government to the Jewish population.

On the one hand, Jews were officially permitted to trade in Pomerania; on the other hand, they were often exploited when the government was experiencing some financial difficulties. That was also the case in 1701 when Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg was the Prussian king. He had no scruples to burden his subjects, with particular emphasis on the Jewish population, with the costs of maintaining his court. On 16 June 1701, by virtue of regulation, the Jews from the whole country were required to pay a flat rate of 20,000 German thalers. Although the amount which was to be paid from the land of Farther Pomerania (Hinterpommern) was not specified then, we can assume that it was 1000 thalers. The notification about the amount and the four-week term by which the payment was to be made was sent to the Government of Farther Pomerania on 24 August 1701. Otherwise, Jews would have to face severe consequences. On 5 October Jewish population was given a reprimand, and in the report of the Farther Pomerania Government of 7 September 1701, there was information that Abraham Arend as the representative of all Pomeranian Jews, applied for some changes to be introduced in this resolution. Not all of the 30 Jews of Farther Pomerania were able to pay such a high fee. Most were very poor, and they were still obliged to pay other fees set previously in return for the privileges. A special petition was even sent to the king regarding this case, but it did not bring any significant results.

On 2 May 1702, the Berlin Government issued another order to Pomeranian Jews to pay 1000 thalers, giving its consent to receive only half of the payment first. The Government of Farther Pomerania took a stance on the position of Berlin in its response of 15 May. The Jews undertook to pay the ordered amount in whole as soon as possible, although they asked for a mitigation of the order conditions. They argued that the number of Jews in Pomerania was insignificant and that many of them lived in such mean conditions that they would not be able to gather such an amount or even half of it. It was suggested that the Jews of Poland and the New March should help as they also possessed privileges valid in Pomerania. However, as it turned out later, the money which the government extorted from the Jews was to be allocated for maintaining and equipping the first regiment consisting of 1,200 soldiers. In 1705, Stargard Szczeciński was inhabited by seven Jewish families, and the first assembly of Jewish families of Farther Pomerania took place in 1706 in Stargard. The meeting was convened to discuss the duties of rabbis and Jewish elders as well as financial matters and those relating to the kehilla taxes.

The settlement fee for the Jews coming to Stargard Szczeciński was set only in 1712 at 15 thalers. Meanwhile, on the basis of the rescript issued on 15 April of the same year, signed by the clerk Blaspil, the rules of the functioning of the Jewish community in the town were defined. It was decided, among other things, that all Jews who did not hold any privileges were to be displaced, one school was to be given to them, and Jew Hartig Maintz was supposed to maintain order when collecting the payments and giving help to the poor. He received his privilege in 1713. He was a very wealthy man who made his living trading in jewellery. He was also engaged in barter. He had a bad reputation in the town, though, as he was morbidly ambitious, spiteful and short-tempered.

He was at loggerheads with one of the clerks for many years, which harmed both parties. He also demanded that the elders produce all the accounts, as he blamed them for undercounting them to the detriment of the community and for extorting money from the Jews that never made it into the royal treasury. He also accused the elders that it was their fault that Jews without privileges were not allowed to reside in the town and accused them of bias and drawing up false statistics for the sake of their protégés. The report prepared by commissioners Massow, Somnitz and Borck of 2 April 1718 shows that seven still lived in Jews Stargard. Their surnames and a short description of their situation were given in the book[1.3]. There are also surnames of the first six clerks appointed to the kehilla in the same year whose responsibility was to run a school and organize traditional Jewish ceremonies. As for Marcus Elias, he was issued a certificate by Stargard craftsmen in 1718 too. They confirmed that this Jew had been supplying them with wool for many years, and receiving the finished woollen fabrics made by them, thus providing them with a source of livelihood. The town hall report concerning the Jewish population of 11 June 1720 mentions the surnames of all nine Jews who lived in Stargard at that time. Most were engaged in trade. Some were quite well-off, while the others made ends meet, however, all of them paid 8 thalers annually for their privileges.

In 1723, the seat of the Pomeranian Government was moved from Stargard Szczeciński to nearby Szczecin. As a result, on 2 May 1724, the Stargard community complained that there was no office in the town that would deal with the issues of the community. If any Jew from Stargard wanted to settle any matter, he had to go to Szczecin, to which he was refused entry. Therefore, the Jews requested permission to enter Szczecin or to appoint a separate office. In response, the Berlin Government directed a letter of 21 June 1725 to the Pomeranian Government, in which the clerk Schlippenbach reminded them that although Jews were not allowed to trade in Hither Pomerania (Vorpommern), they could come in person to Szczecin if there was such a need on the condition that they held a privilege. For this purpose, special permits valid for one or two days were to be distributed to them. During this time, however, they would have to refrain from trading. Non-compliance with these rules resulted in the loss of privileges.

On 24 August 1725, nine Stargard tanners lodged a complaint in the Office of War and Crown Lands (Ger. Kriegs- und Domänenkammer) against the Jews who imported skins from Poland and especially against Jacon Arndt from Szczecinek (Neustettin). However, he replied that his leather trade was absolutely essential and that if it were banned, it would be tantamount to the financial ruin of all the producers of woollen goods from Szczecinek and Okonek (Ratzebuhr). The local population was not very wealthy, therefore, bartering goods for leather was, in practice, the only way of selling them. The military clerk (Ger. Kriegsrat) Lanius referred to that situation in his letter of 14 November of the same year in which he described the complaints of Stargard tanners as groundless since the leather processed by them had nothing to do with black Russian leather from Lithuanian calves, used for the production of shoes. For this reason, the Jews could not be prohibited from importing and trading in leather. A later report of the Pomeranian Office of War and Crown Lands of 15 November 1726 contained the king’s order to check whether the Stargard tanners truly engaged in the manufacture and sale of leather indicated by Arndt. If it had turned out to be true, a Jew would have had to take other leather than the one used for the manufacturing of shoes in return for the goods sold in Poland or to exchange wool for other goods. However, if it had turned out that the tanners from Stargard were not able to provide equally cheap and good quality leather as Arndt did, the Jew would have had to be allowed to continue his trade. The clerk Lanius examined the work of the tanners then, who stated that they did not have the courage to treat the domestic skins used for the manufacture of shoes asking at the same time for permission to use skins imported from Gdańsk (Danzig) for this purpose.

According to the data of 1728, seven Jewish families and three clerks lived in Stargard Szczeciński. Their surnames are mentioned in the book along with the (unfortunately incomplete) list of fees paid by each family[1.4]. All the Jews residing in Stargard Szczeciński paid a total of 202 thalers and 18 groschen in return for their privileges. When Marcus Elias died in 1723, his son Hirsch Marcus applied for granting him his late father’s privileges. As Hirsch Marcus had a good reputation in the town, his request was supported by Captain von Spalding himself in a letter to the minister von Schlippenbach dated 19 December. His request was also endorsed by another clerk, Lanius, who on 11 December 1733 wrote a letter to the king informing that Elias Magnus left in his will at least 4,000 thalers in cash, a house with a homestead and the best shop with silk and linen goods in the town which he used to run with his son. Hirsch Marcus inherited almost all the property except for 500 thalers which were bequeathed to his siblings, so he owned over 1,000 thalers. Therefore, Hirsch Marcus deserved to be granted his father’s privileges. However, it was not the end of complaints against the Jewish inhabitants in Stargard Szczecinski at that time. On 18 December of the same year, an ”advocatus fisci” by the name of von Quicken, in his letter addressed to some office, reported that the presence of Jews in this town had a highly negative influence on the king’s interests as most of these Jews did not hold any privileges and engaged in illegal trade. As a consequence, the treasury was allegedly losing from 2,000 to 4,000 thalers. Nevertheless, on 13 September 1735, the Berlin Government confirmed the right of these six Jewish families to live in Stargard. Abraham Joseph had to present his privilege of 1 November 727 to be signed. The aforesaid Hartig Maintz reiterated his dislike towards Jews without privileges. In a letter of 14 October 1735 directed to the Berlin Government, he reported that the duties of the gravedigger and ‘klepper’[1.5] were carried out by Marcus (Mann) Gottschalk, but the kehilla members buried their deceased on their own, and there was also no needed for a klepper. Moreover, Marcus Gottschalk did not pay the privilege fee even once, just like Aron Isaac.

Hartig Maintz thought that both Jews acted to the detriment of other kehilla members who held privileges, and he firmly demanded they be removed from the town and Marcus Gottschalk be refused the privilege he applied for it. However, Maintz’s request went unheeded, and the Berlin Government allowed Marcus Gottschalk to stay in the town on the basis of the privilege that was held by his father-in-law. For a fee of 100 thalers, he could also obtain his own privilege. In the 1730s, many wigmakers operated in Stargard and were supplied with hair for their wigs by Salomon Arnd in 1736. In turn, the blacksmiths, in their letter of 3 February 1736, asked the king not to expel Salomon Simon from the town. He was very helpful to them as he cleaned metal waste left after casting, melted it down and separated gold from silver. If he had been expelled from the town, the blacksmiths would have had to find another Jew in his place, hence their request for keeping Salomon Simon in Stargard. On 16 February, their request was granted, however, Salomon Simon was allowed to stay in the town on the condition that he would continue doing this job. He could not engage in trade, though. Also, many Jews lodged complaints themselves at the time. In 1736, the Stargard kehilla accused Borchard Philip from Koszalin (Köslin) of increasing the fees without the approval of the other Jews living in Pomerania. He was to be punished by a fine of 100 ducats. Borchard defended himself against these allegations claiming that in the three years since the last seating of the Association of the Jewish Communities of Pomerania (Pommersche Landjudenschaft), the financial situation changed significantly. There were more new expenses, but there was less and less money due to many reasons; the displacement of Jewish youth and the insolvency of the Jews who remained, to mention but a few. He also noted that many Stargard Jews were exempt from any payments on account of their poor living conditions.

Therefore, the kehilla had no more reasons to complain, all the more so because no other community in Pomerania voiced any protest in this case, and many paid much higher rates than those in Stargard. However, his Stargard opponents, including the notorious Hartig Maintz, Simon Lazarus, Aron Moses and Joseph Abraham were not so easily convinced and still demanded from the king a fine for Borchard; this time, it stood at 200 thalers. The report of the Pomeranian Government, drawn up on 19 March 1738 in Szczecin, showed that there were only four Jews in Stargard who held privileges. Their names are mentioned in the book [1.6]. It is also known that the privilege of Hartig Maintz was transferred by virtue of a resolution of 23 December 1736 to Isaac Ephraim. As a result, Maintz was forced to leave the town.

The Jews with privileges, official Jewish clerks and Jews without privileges are all listed separately. In total, there were 21 people of Jewish origin in the town that year. However, other sources suggest that the number of Jews living in Stargard Szczeciński must have been much higher at that time[1.7]. Brüggemann shows that in the same year, there were 38 Jewish households which paid in total 597 thalers and 12 groschen for their privileges.

A year later, there were 35 households which were supposed to be supervised by a military and tax clerk (Kriegs- und Steuerrat) by the name of Hillen. The 9 January 1766 rescript of the Pomeranian Chamber (Pommersche Kammer) contained some information that the business of Lewin Wulff, who traded in cloth which he exported to Poland, brought a lot of profits to the town. Had it not been for Wulff, local manufacturers would have had to take care of selling their products themselves. On account of the good reputation Wulff enjoyed, he was permitted to trade on a larger scale, also at the fairs which took place in Pomerania. A similar permission was granted to Abraham Manasse from Stargard on 16 July 1767. The 1760s was the time when Jews applying for privileges had to undertake to buy local products for a given amount (paid in cash), and next sell them abroad. The list with the surnames of all Jews who signed such an obligation was prepared in 1767. It included Joachim Meyer from Stargard, who agreed to accept 1,000 German thalers worth of goods on 14 November 1765. On 28 May 1768, a meeting attended by Jewish representatives of particular provinces was organized in Berlin’s Spandau. Abraham Scholem and Samson David were delegated from Stargard Szczeciński.

The meeting dealt primarily with the financial affairs of the communities, including fees paid by Jews in exchange for privileges and contributions paid into the so-called ‘Mercy Box’, or ‘Mons Pietatis’, a charity fund established to counter usury by providing interest-free security loans. In April 1769, David Hirsch and Moses Levin expressed their readiness to take over part of the goods from the Porcelain Manufacture in Berlin. In the end, they had to abandon this idea as porcelain could only be bought for cash, and they did not have such an enormous amount at their disposal. An additional difficulty was that the demand for Berlin goods was rather low.

In 1771 Samson David from Stargard became the representative of the Jewish elders. Together with Abraham Ascher from Kamień Pomorski, they were trying to discourage the government from appointing additional clerks to collect payments since it would mean other unnecessary expenses for the Jews in Pomerania. The Jewish kehilla in Stargard was most probably the first one in Pomerania, which enacted a statute regulating the functioning of the kehilla. It was executed and approved by relevant offices in 1776, and its copy was in the local archives still in the 18th century. The first cantor employed by the kehilla was Elias Hirsch. The kehilla received a licence for him from the government in Szczecin in 1781. The kehilla probably had 201 members in 27 families the following year. For comparison, the town had 5,612 inhabitants at the time. The rescript issued in Berlin on 29 August 1782 to the Pomeranian Government permitted two Stargard Jews, Abel Joachim and Samuel Hirsch, to trade in steel, iron and lead. However, on 22 November 1782, this permission was revoked, as confirmed by the following rescript of 13 March 1783.

The given reason for the revocation was the situation of the Christian population in the town. On the other hand, on 22 April 1786, the Office of War and Crown Lands, with the seat in Szczecin, published a report concerning the cloth trade to which only chosen Jews were entitled. The exact content of that report is quoted in the book[1.8]. Also, the surnames of all the clerks employed in the 17th-century kehilla are listed in the book[1.9]. The 1794 data indicate that Stargard Szczeciński was inhabited by 204 people of Jewish origin (Brüggemann wrote about 254 people), and the whole town had 5,971 residents at the time. In ten years, these numbers virtually remained the same. The statistics changed during the Napoleonic wars.

By 1812 the number of Jews in Stargard diminished to 180 people in 77 households, and during the next four years, it was reduced by eight more people. The kehilla included 11 widows. Starogard numbered 8,720 inhabitants in 1812, but this number dwindled to 7,870 by 1816. The same year the Jews who remained in Stargard received Prussian municipal rights and official surnames.

One of the reasons for the decline of the Jewish community in Stargard after 1812 is that, from that year onwards, Jews were finally able to go to nearby Szczecin without restriction and even settle there permanently. Many Jews were eager to take this opportunity as Szczecin was bigger and had a more developed economy. Nevertheless, in 1831 the number of inhabitants in Stargard increased to 9,907 people, of whom 229 were of Jewish origin. Still, at the beginning of the 19th century, the kehilla in Stargard was the biggest one in Pomerania. In 1843 the town had 11,192 inhabitants, and this number grew to 12,473 in 1852. At that time, the local kehilla had 260 and 378 members, respectively.

By virtue of the act of 23 July 1847, the kehillas in Pomerania received corporate rights, synagogue precincts were formed, and the kehillas gained the right to impose taxes on their members. Moreover, each Jew was obliged to join a kehilla. The board of the kehilla was to be composed of five members, and the chamber of representatives of nine members. These guidelines were confirmed by the next act of 1850. Unfortunately, information concerning the kehilla life in the 19th century is very scanty, and all of it is preserved mainly in the form of official records. However, we know that the first rabbi employed by the kehilla was Dr Caro. He started in 1857, and his successor was Dr Peter Buchholz. Later, the kehilla hired two additional clerks for the position of cantor.

In 1862, 436 out of 14,168 inhabitants of Stargard were of Jewish origin, and the number of Jews increased to 558 in 1880. The same year the kehilla in Stargard published ”Porządek synagogalny i modlitewny dla Gminy Synagogalnej w Stargardzie Szczecińskim na Pomorzu” [The synagogue and the prayer order for the Synagogue Kehilla in Stargard Szczeciński, Pomerania]. The rabbis employed by the Stargard kehilla, Dr Wolfssohn and Dr Silberstein, taught religion classes not only in the primary school but also in the lower-secondary school – the Gröning Gymnasium – founded in 1663. This school was attended by many Jewish students, especially in the 19th century. In the school year 1864/65, 57 out of 445 students were of Jewish descent.

From 1868, the kehilla had charity organizations Israelitischer Frauenverein[1.10] and Chevra Kadisha[1.11] which was established in the 1820s. Furthermore, the Israelitischer Armenunterstützungsverein also functioned in the town to help the poor. In 1893–1895, 520 people of Jewish origin lived in Stargard in 125 families.

A religious school was attended then by 63/64 children, and their number fluctuated from 52 to 66 in 1898–1899. The census conducted on 1 February 1900 shows that the Stargard kehilla numbered 518 members, yet during the next five years, this number diminished to 492. There were about 130–135 Jewish households, and the school was attended by 71 to 77 students. Unfortunately, in the following years, their number started to diminish rapidly. In 1911, there were probably only about 30 children who went to school. Meanwhile, the kehilla’s budget at the beginning of the 20th century was approximately 12,000 marks. In addition, in the first years of the 20th century, the kehilla board disposed of the money accumulated in different foundations whose names are mentioned in the book[1.12].

In 1913, Stargard had 27,500 inhabitants, and this number was much higher than in the previous century. However, it soon shrank to 346 people; 92 people paid taxes, and 38 children attended school. Jews constituted less than 1% of the town population, but the kehilla’s budget maintained at the same level of about 12,000 marks for some years. During the First World War, as many as 17 Jews from Stargard Szczeciński died on the front lines. After the war, many Jews left Stargard and moved to bigger German towns such as Berlin, Szczecin and others. The Jews from the Poznań (Posen) area and Western Prussian (Westpreußen) arrived in their place due to the new borders placing those areas in Poland. During the interwar period, the population of Stargard consisted of 36,000 inhabitants, of whom Jews constituted about 1 %;  90 people paid taxes, and 48 children attended school.

The kehilla’s budget was about 11,000 marks, including 800 marks allocated for education. In 1924 and 1928, the kehilla’s budget was drastically reduced, most likely due to the hyperinflation which occurred at that time. It amounted to 80 and 767 marks, respectively. The charity organizations were still operating in the kehilla. Except for those already mentioned, in 1924, appeared another association run by Dr Hamburger called B’nai B’rith, known then as ”Pommerania Loge XXVII nr 401 U. O. B. B.” (currently Polin Lodge)[1.13].

There was also an association of sisters of this lodge under the leadership of Emmy Silberstein. This organization also engaged in charity work. Furthermore, a local branch of Reich Federation of Jewish Front-Line Soldiers (”Reichsbund jüdischer Frontsoldaten”, R. j. F.) was founded in Stargard. For the fiftieth anniversary of the newspaper ”Neues Pommersches Tagesblatt”, it featured a special article which described the life of the kehilla in Stargard Szczeciński from its beginnings in a very positive way. Its content is quoted in the book[1.14]. At the beginning of the 1930s, the kehilla in Stargard consisted of 310 members, of whom 75 paid taxes. They constituted less than 1% of the town population, though. Hermann Schüler was most likely this kehilla’s last cantor and teacher. Three committees operated at the time concerning construction, cemetery, and education matters. The kehilla’s budget calculated in 1930 amounted to 19,000 marks. In about 1932, Paul Treiter became the chairman of the kehilla, who left for Montevideo in Uruguay before the outbreak of the Second World War. After the war, he described the events in the Stargard kehilla in 1933–1938.

The kehilla members always identified themselves strongly with the country they lived in, and the relations with the local population, in the case of Stargard Szczeciński, were always friendly. The kehilla was engaged in a wide range of charity activities, although it was not wealthy itself. The first signs of anti-Semitism appeared in the town only about 1933, when the shop of the chairman, Paul Treiter, was vandalized a few times. In the subsequent years, all Jewish celebrations took place under the supervision of at least one Gestapo soldier. The year 1933 also marked the beginning of the slow process of the kehilla’s disintegration. Initially, most Jews remained in the town, and only some families decided to leave it.

Still, in 1935, in Stargard and its vicinity, there were many shops and businesses owned by Jews. The surnames of 55 Jewish businessmen, along with the type of activity they conducted and their addresses, can be found in the table[1.15]. However, in the next three years, the economic situation in the country got considerably worse. It also concerned the Jewish population forced to close or sell their shops. Paul Treiter mentions that, in May 1938, all the Jews from Stargard who did not give up running their businesses were called in for questioning conducted by the police and Gestapo. They were then asked why they were still in town and when they were going to leave. In the window displays of their shops, posters were hung out informing that these were “Jewish shops” (”jüdisches Geschäft”). Their accounting books were confiscated as the police wanted to know which Christian inhabitants of the town were still buying from these Jews. Shortly afterwards, all the property of the kehilla deposited in the bank, along with the securities, was confiscated in the presence of Treiter. The kehilla house and a poorhouse were also taken away from them. After the events of Kristallnacht, which also affected Stargard, most Jewish men in the town were taken to the concentration camp in Oranienburg.

The synagogue and remaining Jewish shops were destroyed then. The census focused on racial segregation of May 1939 shows that there were 74 or 76 Jews in Stargard Szczeciński, with 10 or 12 in other towns of the county. Their surnames, dates of birth and addresses can be found in the table[1.16]. Many of these people probably managed to leave the town before the end of the year. Emil Silberstein, who was the rabbi, left the town with his wife at the last moment and went to Shanghai, where he was also a rabbi. He was seen there as a supporter of radical reforms and anti-Zionism; he proposed moving the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, for example. Silberstein died in 1946 in Shanghai and was buried there. His grave did not survive because all the Jewish cemeteries in this city were destroyed after the end of the war[1.17].

The Jews from Stargard, who avoided being transported to the concentration camps during the Kristallnacht and escaped in the following years, were deported to Szczecin on 12 February 1940. From there, they were taken together with other Jews from the Szczecin region to Piaski (or other towns or villages) near Lublin. An accurate list of the surnames of the persons who were transported has not been found. It is known, however, that there were from 800 to even 1,200 people. The report of 8 September 1940 by the Jewish council in Piaski shows that there were still 26 people alive in this transport, including eight from Stargard. The surnames of the people who survived are listed in the table[1.18].

There is little likelihood that any of these people also survived the following years in the concentration camp. In mid-1943, in Stargard, a subcamp of the concentration camp in Ravensbrück was arranged. Earlier, in 1941, in another Stargard camp, there were 2,700 Jews from the east[1.19].

Bibliography

• Ludwig Wilhelm Brüggemann, Ausführliche Beschreibung des Preußischen Vor- und Hinterpommern, Szczecin, 1779-1806
• Salinger G., Zur Erinnerung und zum Gedenken. Die einstigen jüdischen Gemeinden Pommerns, vol. II, New York 2006