Obj. ID: 49341
Jewish Funerary Art Jewish cemetery in Jedwabne, Poland
According to ESJF European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative, the cemetery was likely established in the second half of the 18th century and was mentioned in the inspection records of the Catholic parish in 1781 (“There are a public Jewish school in Jedwabne and graves near the church in Borek, but they do not have any right or permission to establish such facilities”). The area of the cemetery was expanded in the 1860s. At the beginning of the 20th century, the cemetery was fenced with a low fence. In June 1941, the cemetery was a defensive base for the German occupiers. On July 10, 1941, a pogrom against the Jews of Jedwabne took place in the barn next to the cemetery. In 1944, the Germans dug trenches in the cemetery to defend against the Red Army and a battle took place on January 23, 1945. The cemetery has been severely damaged and, apart from the damage suffered during the battle, the local population used tombstones as building material.
In 2001, as part of a project to commemorate the victims of the pogrom, a stone wall was erected at the southern edge of the cemetery, and a monument with information about the cemetery was built at the entrance. Within the cemetery, there are several dozen tombstones in various conditions, made of fieldstone granite, the oldest of which dates to 1836. The owner of the cemetery is the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage, and it is listed in the Register of Immovable Monuments of the Podlaskie Voivodeship.
There is a stone wall along Krasickiego street (about 1.5 m high) and a metal mesh fence on the western and northern sides of the cemetery (also 1.5 m high). There is no fence on the eastern side, the cemetery border is marked with dense bushes.
