Jewish cemetery in Częstochowa - is located at ul. Golden one in the Dąbie district (administratively Zawodzie-Dąbie), next to the Częstochowa Huta. It is one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in Poland. It covers an area of about 8.5 ha and is now almost entirely covered with forest. There are about 4-5 thousand matzevot on it, both with Polish and Hebrew inscriptions, most of them braided with ivy. Some of them have been moved, broken or turned over. Destruction from the nearby smelter also contributed to the destruction over the years. [source: Wikipedia, 141822]
| confession | Judaism |
| type of the cemetery | civil, denominational |
| [source: Wikipedia, 141822] |
History
It was founded by the Jewish community at the end of the 18th century (earlier Częstochowa Jews were buried in the Jewish cemetery in nearby Janów), probably in 1799, although some sources mention 1780. In 1907, it was rebuilt and fenced. Until 1939 and in the years 1945-1950 he was under the protection of the Jewish community. In 1943, during the liquidation of the small ghetto, Jews were brought to the cemetery, who were immediately shot and buried in a mass grave. The last official burial was done at the cemetery in 1970, but secret funerals were held for three more years. After 1950, the cemetery was inside the premises of the expanded Częstochowa Steelworks, making access to it difficult. This contributed to the survival of the necropolis, but it was not conducive to the care of its appearance. Currently, the legal status of the cemetery area is the subject of arrangements between the authorities of Częstochowa and the Jewish kehilla in Katowice. In 1984 the gate was rebuilt and the area was fenced, and in 1988 an inventory of tombstones was made. At the end of the 1980s, access to the cemetery was limited and required a pass because it was located under the management of the Częstochowa Steelworks. On August 7, 2007, a group of hooligans desecrated the cemetery, destroying numerous tombstones, painting black anti-Semitic symbols and Celtic crosses on them. Częstochowa high school students undertook the action of cleaning and removing damage. Unfortunately, nowadays, the cemetery is not only devastated, but also unprotected, and thus exposed, among others to the devastation of satanists and anti-Semites. Nevertheless, this cemetery has its own unique climate, thanks to the lush development of untreated cemetery greenery, especially ivy. [source: Wikipedia, 141822]
Some identified gravestones
Tombstones from 1937, in which Nachum Asza's nadrabina was buried, is a more interesting tombstone. On the four corners of her lid, eagles are carved, which can be symbolic guardians of the peace of the soul. Probably it is also a reference to the quote Szybsi od eagle, more powerful than the lions of the Second Book of Samuel, which is to characterize the deceased. The ohel of tzaddik Pinchas Menachem Justman and his son Isaac Meir Justman from 1919 are noteworthy. Holocaust times commemorate: * mass grave of Jews murdered on January 4, 1943 with a monument * war grave of members of the Jewish Fighting Organization killed on August 20, 1943 with a monument * grave collective war of 6 Jewish partisans killed in the struggle for freedom March 19, 1943 * collective war grave of Jewish fighters killed in action on the Ost-Bahn on April 22, 1943 * the grave of Leon and Jan Goldman (family burial) killed during World War II * Markus' grave Elderman * collective war grave of the members of the Jewish Combat Organization on July 26, 1943 in a bunker in the Częstochowa ghetto * a collective war grave of Liberman, Ofman and Słowików families who died during World War II [source: Wikipedia, 141822]
