Alternate names: Służewo [Pol], Sluzheva [Yid], Sluzhevo, Служево [Rus]. This village in Gmina Aleksandrów Kujawski, Aleksandrowski powiat, Kujawsko-Pomorskie woj is the seat of Służewo gmina, a rural administrative district. From 1975-1998, town administratively belonged to the Włocław powiat. [July 2009]
The beginning of Jewish settlement in Służewo dates from the 18th century because in 1765, 22 Jews lived here, reaching about 200 (50%) in 1779 and 560 in 1857. About 1800, a wooden synagogue was erected. Originally subject to sections of the Nieszawa, Aleksandrow Kujawski and Ciechocinek kahals, the Służewo Jews lived on ul Brzeska with a brick synagogue, a house of prayer, and mikvah. Over time, Jews began to move Ciechocinek where a new spa was developed. In 1918, Służewo established a kahal that included Jews from Służewo and Ciechocinek. In the late 19th and early 20th century difficult economic conditions and anti-Semitism forced the Jews to leave, going mainly to Germany and America. By 1921, only 259 Jews remained. After the outbreak of WWII, the Nazis created a ghetto in the village holding about two hundred people that was liquidated in May 1942. In October 1939 all of Jews were gathered in the church, living in terrible conditions and put into forced labor. After the war, the Church was cleaned of urine and dry feces. [July 2009]
CEMETERY: The 18th century cemetery south of the village was turned into a garbage dump during the war and finally cleaned in 1987. Before the war, a metal fence with a gate surrounded the cemetery containing a brick building [beit tahara?] and a wooden caretaker house. The Nazis destroyed the cemetery. No gravestones remain, only vegetation. The Nazis stole the gravestones to shore up the lake shore or build pavements. Some are part of a fence of a local property. Photos. [July 2009]