With Impressions of a visit in August 2022

Mehlsack is a small town in the East Prussian countryside of Warmia, since 1947 it has been named Pieniężno in Poland.

Synagogue Mehlsack

Drawing of Mehlsack inner city
Source: Barran, Fritz: Städte-Atlas Ostpreussen, Leer 1992, S. 46

The small brick synagogue was built in 1860 in what was then Wormditter Street. On the occasion of the opening, the “Ermländische Aussteuerverein” was founded by those present to support poor Jewish girls. After the turn of the century, the small community could no longer afford a rabbi. The cult officials changed frequently. In 1938, the synagogue was sold to the local Baptist congregation. Nevertheless, devastation occurred inside the building during the Reichspogromnacht.
During the fighting in the spring of 1945, the building was destroyed and the remains were later leveled. Currently, the presumed site of the former synagogue is not built on.

In this place between the two streets there are traces of foundations and bricks.
Seen coming from the marketplace of that time.

Jewish cemetery in Pieniężno (Mehlsack)

In the 19th century, a Jewish cemetery was opened outside the town, on the edge of the Judenberg. The cemetery, laid out on a rectangular ground plan, had an area of about 0.2 ha. In the former Jewish cemetery there is a quite well preserved war cemetery for Soviet soldiers.
Today the cemetery is located in the northeastern part of the municipal cemetery, next to the municipal stadium. The old tree population of the cemetery has been preserved. (Details from POLIN Virtual Shtetl, https://www.sztetl.org.pl/en/towns/p/1014-pieniezno/114-cemeteries )

Gesamtansicht Jüdischer Friedhof Mehlsack
General view of the part of the municipal cemetery, which was formerly intended for Jews and where today the Soviet military cemetery with a monument is situated.
At the edge you can clearly see the old trees.
Entrance Jewish Cemetery Mehlsack
Cemetery entrance on the Jews’ Hill.