Jewish Cemetery

Jewish Cemetery
Wysokie Brzegi 1 str.

Oświęcim's first Jewish cemetery was founded circa 1588, but its location is unknown. Today, the only surviving cemetery is situated at the corner of Dąbrowskiego street and Wysokie Brzegi street. It was established at the turn of the 19th century. The cemetery was originally square, but the area that remains today is trapezoidal. During World War II, the cemetery was devastated by the Germans and part of its grounds were covered by Dąbrowskiego Str. In 1941, the cemetery was closed just after the Jews were deported from Oświęcim. In the first decade after the war, the Jews who returned to Oświęcim took care of the cemetery and in the following years, the wall surrounding the graveyard was repaired. In the 1980s, the cemetery was renovated thanks to the support of Asher Scharf of New York. Sections of tombstones were arranged into memorials. At the same time, the Scharf family's ohel (in Hebrew, a small building built over a distinguished grave) was reconstructed. The other ohel in the cemetery covers the grave of Szymon Kluger, the last Jew who lived in Oświęcim. Almost 1000 tombstones have been preserved in Oświęcim's Jewish cemetery.
The cemetery is under the care of the Jewish Museum, which allows for visiting.
The guidebook to the Jewish cemetery of Oświęcim. "The Jewish Cemetery in Oświęcim. History, symbols, nature".

Tombstones - Matzevot | Photo: CIT Oświęcim — Tombstones - MatzevotPhoto: CIT Oświęcim

Gate of the historic cemetery | Photo: CIT Oświęcim — Gate of the historic cemeteryPhoto: CIT Oświęcim

Bunker of Memory | Photo: Tomasz Kuncewicz — Bunker of MemoryPhoto: Tomasz Kuncewicz

Bunker of Memory
An installation made of fragments of tombstones found in the cemetery, in the town itself and the surrounding villages, as well as a learning path explaining the meaning of basic grave symbols. An additional element is a map that allows you to locate selected historic tombstones. The preserved fragments of the tombstones were placed on the walls of a former Nazi German bunker, which was built during World War II on the site of a devastated cemetery.

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Tourist Information Centre in Oświęcim

55 Więźniów Oświęcimia Street
32-600 Oświęcim
POLAND
phone.: +48 33 843 00 91
phone.: +48 885 843 472
mail: it.oswiecim@msit.malopolska.pl
www: www.it.oswiecim.pl

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