Synagogue Community of Bydgoszcz Synagogengemeinde Bromberg (Fond 716)

In 1802 Jews received the right to live in Bydgoszcz. A cemetery was built in 1816; a second cemetery was consecrated in 1874. A large synagogue was built in 1884. The community also established a school in 1898. A chevra kaddisha was established in 1850. The 27 communities that made up the district formed a federation in 1897, which was led by Louis Aronsohn, a banker who was characterized by his work with the Prussian authorities for the benefit of his coreligionists. Later, towards the end of the 1920s, the Jewish community of Bydgoszcz was expanded to include the nearby communities of Fordon, Solec Kujawski, and Koronowo. In 1905 the local Jewish population was 2,600, out of a total population of 54,231. A number of organizations were active in the Jewish community of Bydgoszcz at the beginning of the 20th century. These included Zionist organizations such as Poalei Zion, Betar, and Hashomer Hatzair, and political organizations such as the Bund. There were also a number of charity groups that functioned to aid individuals and groups within the city, including an old age home, and a Gemilat Chesed fun. When the city was incorporated into Poland in the wake of World War I many of the Jews moved to Germany and the community's archives were transferred to the archives of the German Jews in Berlin. In 1924 there were 1,000 Jews living in Bydgoszcz. The Jewish population quickly recovered, however, and by 1931 it had increased to 3,000. Bydgoszcz was one of the first places in Poland to be declared "Judenrein" (free of Jews) by the Nazis. Most of the Jewish families living in Bydgoszcz fled before the outbreak of World War II. The Jewish religious community of Bydgoszcz ceased to exist after Nazi deportation of the local Jews in late 1939. Many of those who remained were murdered in a mass killing that took place on September 5, 1939, while the rest were deported to concentration camps in 1940 and 1941. The synagogue and both cemeteries were destroyed. Sub camps of the Stutthof concentration camp were established in Bydgoszcz and imprisoned approximately 300 Jewish women. [See more at: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/bydgoszcz]

Rossiĭskiĭ gosudarstvennyĭ voennyĭ arkhiv

Forms part of the Claims Conference International Holocaust Documentation Archive at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. This archive consists of documentation whose reproduction and/or acquisition was made possible with funding from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

Source of acquisition is the Russian State Military Archive (Rossiĭskiĭ gosudarstvennyĭ voennyĭ arkhiv), Osobyi Archive, Fond 716. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received the filmed collection via the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum International Archival Programs Division in 1993.