• Szczecin Synagogue Memorial Plaque
A memorial plaque in the formerly German, now Polish city of Szczecin commemorates the synagogue of the Jewish community of Stettin - as the city was called before 1945 - which was set on fire and destroyed by the National Socialists during the Kristallnacht in November 1938. Beginning 1940, the members of the Jewish community were forced into exile or deported to death camps and murdered there.
Image: Stettin, undated, Town hall, synagogue in the background, private collection
Stettin, undated, Town hall, synagogue in the background, private collection

Image: Szczecin, 2011, Memorial plaque, public domain
Szczecin, 2011, Memorial plaque, public domain
In 1933, the Pomeranian capital of Stettin (today: Szczecin) had a population of 270.000, of whom 2,300 were Jews. Jews were not permitted to settle in Stettin before 1812; consequently, only in 1816 was a Jewish community founded. The Jewish community was centred around the New Synagogue on the town square of Stettin, which had been consecrated in 1875.
When the National Socialists came to power, Jews in Stettin - as Jews all over the German Reich - were subjected to a gradual deprivation of rights and increasing persecution. In the course of the Kristallnacht in November 1938, the Gestapo deported many Jewish men to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. The men were allowed to return to Stettin only after several weeks. In the night of November 9/10 1938, National Socialists set ablaze the New Synagogue in Stettin. The fire was only extinguished on the following day. The building could not be saved, and the ruins had to be torn down. After these events, many Stettin Jews emigrated. In February 1940, the SS ordered the deportation of 1,500 Jews from Pomerania and Stettin to Lublin in occupied Poland. This was the first deportation of Jews from the German Reich. By 1942, all of the Jews of Stettin had either emigrated or had been deported. Most of those deported from Stettin were murdered at the Bełżec extermination camp.
Image: Stettin, undated, Town hall, synagogue in the background, private collection
Stettin, undated, Town hall, synagogue in the background, private collection

Image: Szczecin, 2011, Memorial plaque, public domain
Szczecin, 2011, Memorial plaque, public domain
Up to 1,500 of the 2,300 members of the German-Jewish community of Stettin were deported to the east. Most of them perished in death camps.
Image: Stettin, undated, Interior of the synagogue with pulpit, public domain
Stettin, undated, Interior of the synagogue with pulpit, public domain

After the end of the war, Stettin came under Polish administration, though it hadn't been definitely decided yet whether the city would become part of Poland. Several thousand Jews, mostly of Polish origin, came to the city now called Szczecin. The majority soon emigrated to the US, to Western Europe or to Israel. Further waves of emigration followed in 1956/57 and in the course of the anti-Semitic campaign of the Polish government in 1968. Today, only a few Jews reside in Szczecin.
The remains of the New Synagogue had been torn down already in 1938, and the rubble was removed in 1940. Since then, the former site of the synagogue on Dworcowa Street has remained empty. In 1999, a memorial plaque in honour of the Jewish community of Stettin was affixed to a wall near the former site of the synagogue. The dedication is inscribed on the plaque in Polish, German, and English.
Image: Stettin, undated, Façade of the synagogue, public domain
Stettin, undated, Façade of the synagogue, public domain

Name
Tablica pamiątkowa w miejscu byłej synagogi
Address
ul. Dworcowa
70-215 Szczecin
Open
The memorial plaque is always accessible.