Alternate names: Schlichtingsheim, Szlichtyngowa. 51°43' N 16°15' E, 205.3 miles W of Warszawa. This town in the Wschowa powiat of the Lubuskie Voivodship, near the Oder River was founded in 1644 by Protestant exiles fleeing the Counter-Reformation in the Silesian province of the Holy Roman Empire. About one mile behind the border between Silesia and Greater Poland, the new settlement near the village of Górczyna was founded with consent of King Władysław IV of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. As a result of the Potsdam Conference since 1945 the town again belongs to Poland. The population as of 2004 is 1,348. Beside the town of Szlichtyngowa, Gmina Szlichtyngowa contains the villages and settlements of Dryżyna, Gola, Górczyna, Jędrzychowice, Kowalewo, Małe Drzewce, Nowe Drzewce, Puszcza, Stare Drzewce, Wyszanów and Zamysłów. history. Normal 0 Jews first settled in Szlichtyngowej in the mid-18th century prior to which Jewish settlement was banned. In 1765, Jews paid the equivalent of 160 PLN in fees. After 1793, 134 Jews lived there gradually decreasing in 1843 to 110, 33 in 1871, and 21 in 1890. In the early 20th century, the Jewish community was terminated officially. The last Jews emigrated from Szlichtyngowej in the interwar period. [July 2009]
CEMETERY: Established as early as 1752 in the forest, 1 km NW of the town on the way to the Głogów Wschowa, 35 of mostly gray sandstone matzevot and fragments, remain in the 0.18-hectare, rectangular Jewish cemetery. The oldest gravestone (Rachela bat Dawid) dates from 1751 and the latest from 1923 (Rosa Goldstein). The last burial in the cemetery took place in 1934, but the gravestone did not survive. The area belongs in the village of Górczyna by the road from Głogów to Wschowa. Surviving also is the 1.5-meter stone wall with a gate on the SE side erected in the 19th century. In 1990s, the 19th century sandstone, typical rectangular matzevot with Hebrew and German inscription were brought to the cemetery from Wschowa, some with a semi-circular pediment. The site is clean. The gravestones are inscribed in a register. Section borders are unclear. After 1945, neglect went to permanent devastation although in the 1960s the matzevot still occupied the whole cemetery. Then, the granite and marble gravestones were taken. Authorities planned to liquidate the cemetery in 1972 but never did. However, the systematic robbery and vandalism continued until the end of the 1980s when the then curator of the Judaic museum in Leszno, Dariusz Czwojdrak, decided to rescue it with the help of Mr and Mrs Lawrence Kopczyński, halting the degradation of the cemetery and reconstructed it gradually. In 1989 the cemetery was landmarked. DIRECTIONS: After leaving the town, turn left toward the Puszcza residential district of one-family houses and reach the forest. The cemetery is located about 100 m from the road. [July 2009]
Cemetery photos [May 2006]
US Commission No. POCE00305
Alternate German name: Schlichtingscheim. The town is located in Leszczynskie province at 51°43' N 16°15' E, 33 km from Leszno, 100 km from Wroclaw, and 60 km from Legnica. Cemetery: at the outskirts of the town, 1 km away on main road from Glogow to Wschowa. There is no road leading directly to the cemetery, only a path in the forest. Present town population is 1,000-5,000, with no Jews.
- Town: (1) Burmistrz: Marek Ast, ul. Koscuiszki 18a/28, 67-400 Wschowa, and (2) Urzad Miejski w Szlichtyngowej, ul. Rynek 1, 67-407 Szlichtyngowa, tel. 27.
- Local: Grazyna Furaz, Urzad Miejski w Szlichtyngowej. Regional: Ewa Pieslewicz-Panstwowa Sluzba Ochrony Zabytkow, ul. Mickiewicze 5, 64-100 Leszno, tel.20-63-82 and 20-22-83.
- Interested: Leszczynskie Lowazystwo Kulturalne, 64-100 Leszno, ul. Narutowicza 69, tel.20-68-90.
- Keyholders to locked cemetery gate: (1) Grazyna Furaz, address listed above, and (2) the caretaker, Dariusz Czwojdrak, ul.Lipowa 22a/4, 67-400 Wschowa.
The earliest Jewish community dates to the second half of the 18th century with last known Conservative Jewish burial (Rosa Goldstein) on July 11, 1923. Landmark: official register of monuments, decision by WK2, number KL5347/71/89, November 28, 1989. The isolated rural, wooded flat land has Polish sign. Reached by taking a path in the forest, access is entirely closed, but open with permission. A continuous masonry wall, with a locked gate surrounds the cemetery. The size of the cemetery before WWII was and is now about 0,18 ha. There are about 20-100 gravestones, some in original locations with less than 25% toppled or broken. The oldest gravestone in the cemetery is Debora, daughter of Salomona, 23 Mercheszway 5563 (1802). The tombstones date from the 19th-20th centuries. The sandstone flat shaped stones and flat stones with carved relief decorations have Hebrew, Yiddish and German inscriptions. Some tombstones have traces of painting on their surfaces. The cemetery contains no mass graves or structures. The municipality owns the cemetery property used for Jewish cemetery, adjacent to forests. Private visitors and local residents visit rarely. The cemetery was vandalized during World War II, and occasionally at other times. In May/June 1988, individuals or groups of non-Jewish origin, and the local/municipal authorities re-erected and patched stones, cleared vegetation, and fixed the wall and gate. There is an unpaid regular caretaker. Slight threats are weather erosion, pollution and vegetation, moderate threats from security and vandalism.
Dariusz Czwojdrak, caretaker, address listed above, completed survey on August 16, 1991 using the documentation of the cemetery of the former Jewish community in Szlichtywgowa: the work on historical spatial development. (BB: D2 in Leszno Wlkp.)