Miejsca pamięci: Szczecin

Places of remembrance in Szczecin: monuments, former cemeteries and traces of a lost synagogue, from Solidarity Square to Gumieńce. Thirteen sites.

The list covers places tied to the memory of people and events in the city's past: monuments, former military and municipal cemeteries and reminders of the Jewish community of Szczecin. Many now look like a square or a park, so each description gives the district and what remains on site. Other kinds of historic sites are gathered in the overview of historic sites in Szczecin.

What places of remembrance are there in Szczecin?

There are three groups: monuments to specific events, former cemeteries turned into squares and parks, and sites concerning the city's Jews. Most lie in Śródmieście, Gumieńce and Łękno.

Pomnik Ofiar Grudnia 1970 (Monument to the Victims of December 1970), also called the Angel of Freedom, stands on Solidarity Square in Stare Miasto, next to the former provincial headquarters of the communist party. It was unveiled in 2005 in memory of those who died in the city in December 1970.

Where can you find traces of Jewish Szczecin?

Three places relate to them: a vanished synagogue, an old cemetery on Ojca Beyzyma Street and a section of the Central Cemetery. The first two are now sites of lost structures, while the third is in use.

Nowa Synagoga w Szczecinie (New Synagogue) went up in 1873-1875 and was destroyed by fire in November 1938. It stood at Grüne Schanze, and its plot today carries the address Dworcowa 9a. A plaque by the Pomeranian Library keeps its memory.

The entry Cmentarze żydowskie w Szczecinie (Jewish cemeteries in Szczecin) covers the old cemetery of 1821 in Łękno, closed in 1982, which has become a park with a monument. The other place is the Kwatera żydowska Cmentarza Centralnego w Szczecinie (a Jewish plot within the Central Cemetery), separated in 1962. It is the one Jewish cemetery still used in West Pomerania.

What remains of the former military and municipal cemeteries?

Five places are necropolises where there is now a square, a park or a single fragment. They are still burial grounds, so gravity is expected.

• Cmentarz wojskowy przy ulicy św. Wojciecha w Szczecinie (Military Cemetery on St Adalbert Street) was the first military burial ground in the city (around 1750). Today it is a small square on Anders Square with one boulder.
• Cmentarz garnizonowy przy ulicy Kopernika w Szczecinie (Garrison Cemetery) served soldiers of Prussian regiments from 1846, and what is left is a square, a bit of wall and old trees.
• Cmentarz jeńców francuskich w Szczecinie (Cemetery of French Prisoners of War) on Litewska Street is a small burial ground for soldiers who died in a prison camp during the Franco-Prussian war.
• Cmentarz Oświęcimski w Szczecinie (Oświęcimski Cemetery) was laid out around 1820 as a municipal burial ground and is now a park with its gate preserved.
• Cmentarz zakładu Bethanien w Szczecinie (Bethanien Institution Cemetery) was a hospital burial ground from around 1871 and kept its neoclassical chapel.

Which monuments are on the list?

Besides the one on Solidarity Square there are four more, very different in age and character. In the Central Cemetery on Okólna Street stands Pomnik "Tym, którzy nie powrócili z morza" w Szczecinie (the sailors' monument, "Tym, którzy nie powrócili z morza"), a cenotaph for seamen lost at sea that dates from 1989. In Kasprowicz Park there is the Pomnik Chłopca Węgierskiego w Szczecinie (Monument to the Hungarian Boy), a bronze figure from 2016 donated by Budapest's Csepel district in thanks for the aid given in 1956.

In Słoneczne, at Jasna 105, stands the steel and glass Pomnik Niepodległości (Independence Monument) of 2001. In the Wkrzańska Forest, in Warszewo, the Pomnik Poległych w I Wojnie Światowej Sportowców w Szczecinie (Monument to the Fallen Athletes of the First World War) honours seven members of a German gymnastics society killed in the war, and is built from two halves of a split boulder. Other former cemeteries that became parks are described in the overview of cemeteries and monuments in Szczecin.

Frequently asked questions

Which places on the list are active cemeteries?

The Jewish plot at Gumieńce is the active one. The sailors' monument also stands on that necropolis. The other cemeteries on the list are former burial grounds.

Does the synagogue in Szczecin still stand?

No. The building burned in 1938, and today only a plaque and a plot on Dworcowa Street are left.

Which places lie within the Central Cemetery?

The Jewish plot and the sailors' monument are both on that necropolis in Gumieńce.

How should one behave at places of remembrance?

Calmly and respectfully, also where a square or park has replaced a cemetery. In active cemeteries, keep quiet.