Oświęcim Jewish Cemetery

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The Jewish cemetery in Oświęcim (German: Auschwitz), Poland, was destroyed by the Germans during World War II and partly restored by returning Jewish survivors after the Holocaust. In Communist Poland it fell into disrepair and was fully restored in the 1990s.

History[]

There was a previous Jewish cemetery in Oświęcim but its location has been lost. The cemetery was established in 1784 at the junction of Dabrowskiego and Wysokie Brzegi Streets. Originally it covered an area of 26 (0.5 hectares). The Jewish community paid 30 zlotys per year for the site and also employed their own undertaker and administrator.[1] In July 1941 the cemetery was closed by the German authorities. Following closure, the cemetery was ransacked for construction material. The area of the cemetery was dramatically reduced on three sides.

Post war[]

After the war a few Jews returned to Oświęcim and made efforts to restore the cemetery. A letter sent in 1946 from the Jewish Committee in Oświęcim to the Jewish Committee in Krakow,[1] states:

"The terrain of the cemetery is not fenced off, and half of it has been completely dug up. The construction of a cemetery wall is an urgent matter given that the terrain of the cemetery is used as a transit road. A large number of monuments have been dispersed across various parts of the city and thus it is necessary to gather them and arrange them in the cemetery."

In 1947 there was a nationwide fundraising effort led by the Citizen's Committee.[1] It aimed to build a new wall and protect the surviving graves. The cemetery was in a dilapidated state and had a huge crater in it from aerial bombing. The campaign was successful and the cemetery received a new wall.

By the beginning of the 1960s all the remaining Jews had left the town and the cemetery was left exposed again. In 1992 ownership was transferred to the City of Oświęcim. In 1998 the site was passed to the ownership of the Jewish community in Bielsko-Biała.[1] The cemetery remained in an unkempt state and under threat of land grabs by the local authorities.

Between 1987 and 1988, Asher Scharf of New York, United States, paid for extensive renovations including a new wall and entrance gates. were put upright and two lapidariums were built from destroyed tombstones. The Sacher family also had their ohel rebuilt.[1] The story of is told in the 2006, film .[2]

Contemporary cemetery[]

In December 2003 16 tombstones in the cemetery were knocked over by unknown assailants. A few days previously, two large swastikas were painted on the cemetery wall. These were removed by municipal police.[3]

Since 2014 volunteers from The Matzevah Foundation,[4] Action Reconciliation Service For Peace (ARSP)[5] and local volunteers have repaired several sections of the exterior wall, set {{transl|he|matzevot in 25 concrete stands and installed a gravel path leading to an ohel in the rear of the cemetery.[6]

Notable burials[]

Location and visiting[]

The cemetery is kept locked. A key is available for visitors from the Jewish Museum in Oświęcim

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Guidebook to the Jewish Cemetery of Oswiecim". AEJM.org.
  2. ^ "Saved by Deportation". Jewish Film Institute.
  3. ^ "Desecration of cemetery". Irish Times.
  4. ^ "The Matzevah Foundation".
  5. ^ "Action Reconciliation Service for Peace".
  6. ^ "Survey completed in Oswiecim Jewish cemetery". Staffordshire University#Centre of Archaeology. Staffordshire University. Retrieved 19 February 2020.

External links[]

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