History
Jewish community before 1989 – Polska / pomorskie
Wejherowo (German: Neustadt)
Wejherowo is situated about 25 kilometers to the west of Gdynia (Gdingen). First Jewish families settled in the town around 1812, but the local Jewish community developed rather slowly. Finally, around 1870, the community consisted of almost 170 members. This number diminished from time to time due to Jewish migration to other towns. Nevertheless, since new Jewish settlers were coming to the town, the Jewish community in Wejherowo increased to 200 people. Most probably, all Jews who had not managed to escape from Wejherowo before the outbreak of WWII were executed in the nearby woods in 1939.
The Jewish community in Wejherowo had its own synagogue whose construction was finished in the 1860s.
What acted as a magnet for Jews was the famous sanctuary Kalwaria Wejherowska, built in the 18th century, situated on the hills surrounding the town from the south. Jews arrived here from the nearby village Bolszewo, where they used to have their own school and cemetery as early as 1766.
In 1818, there were 31 Jews living in Wejherowo, and in 1871 there were 168 Jews. This number fell in 1921 to 62 Jews. In 1931, there were 218 Jews in total living in Puck and Wejherowo. The northern part of the city was their usual place of settlement. This was also where they built a synagogue in the first half of the 19th century, on Pucka (now Trautmana) Street. The street diverged from the market square in the direction of the river Reda, and then turned into a road leading to the Bay of Puck. The cemetery was established outside the city on the moraine hills.
The official date of the founding of the community is impossible to determine. We only know that, on the basis of the administrative division, this community administered the communities in Puck, Gdynia and Sopot (until 1912), which in turn could use the local synagogue and cemetery. Jews living in the villages of Wejherowo County also belonged to this community; there were 23 of them at the end of the 19th century.
In 1939, the synagogue was destroyed, and the cemetery hill was transformed into a bridgehead by city defenders, which caused its total devastation. Jews - if they were still present in the town - were most probably murdered by the Nazis in Piaśnica, during massive extermination of the Polish people.[1.1]
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[1.1] H. Domańska, Kamienne drzewo płaczu, Gdańsk 1991, p. 20-21, ŻIH, Zbiory Jana Jagielskiego
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