Obj. ID: 51630
Jewish Funerary Art  Jewish cemetery in Wejherowo, Poland

According to ESJF European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative, the Jewish cemetery in Bolszewo (currently within the administrative boundaries of Wejherowo) is located west of Spokojna Street, in a range of moraine hills, on a wooded hill known as “Żydowska Górka” (“Jewish Hill”, coordinates 54.605555 / 18.183611).

The date of establishing the cemetery is unknown, but the first records of its existence date back to 1766, when it was used as a burial place for the dead from the Jewish community in Bolszewo and nearby towns. In 1827, the cemetery was bought by the Jewish community of Wejherowo. Later, Jews from Gdynia were also buried there.

From 1916 to 1920, seven prisoners of war were buried in the cemetery – soldiers of the Russian army, who died in Wejherowo. They were: Salomon Baumann (died August 7, 1917), Józef Schichel (died March 2, 1919), Jeszua Lewi (died May 19, 1919), Mojżesz Sanderowicz (died June 8, 1919), Mojżesz Tkacz (died October 9, 1919), Salomon Tkacz (died January 2, 1920). The name of the seventh prisoner remains unknown.

In the interwar period, the cemetery occupied a rectangular plot of land with an area of 3,414 square meters, with the main alley on the north-south axis, which determined the layout of the graves. The area was fenced with a wall and a wooden fence.

The building was devastated during World War II and in later years. During the September campaign in 1939, a defensive point of the Polish Army was established there. There is no detailed information about the fate of the cemetery during the war and its condition after its end. After 1945, as Nina Herzberg reported in the work The Jewish community in Wejherowo and its vicinity in terms of the concept of memorial sites: "This cemetery was plundered. There is also an assumption that the wall that once surrounded the cemetery is now in the garden of one of the inhabitants of Wejherowo or Bolszewo. (…) The local youth were extracting skulls from tombstones. In 1953, the administrative authorities decided to close the cemetery."

As a result of the destruction, only a few grave walls have survived to this day from the ground part of the cemetery. In 2020, a destroyed sandstone stele was found near the cemetery. The area is covered with mixed forest (maples, limes, pines, spruces).

(K. Bielawski, cmentarze-zydowskie.pl)

Jarosław Drozd, in his study The Jewish Community in Wejherowo, writes about the beginnings of this necropolis: “The construction of a synagogue in 1866 was the most spectacular achievement of the local Jews. At the time of its construction, there was already a cemetery, the creation of which was still connected with the activity of a rural Jewish community in Bolszewo in the second half of the 18th century. Due to the difficulties related to obtaining permission to establish a new cemetery in Wejherowo or on its outskirts, it was decided in 1827 to buy the area of the old Jewish cemetery located on the top of a hill called Żydowska Góra (“Judenberg”) south of the village of Bolszewo, by the old Wejherowo-Lębork road. It had an area of 3,414 square meters, but the burial space itself occupied an area of 2,409 square meters. The remaining part of the area was forest. At least until 1892 there was no burial house in the cemetery.

The cemetery was seriously damaged during World War II – its area was transformed into a military outpost. Single fragments of graves have survived to this day. According to one of our correspondents who wished to remain anonymous, the artistically made metal fence surrounding the necropolis was stolen and now serves as a fence and balcony railing on one of the premises in Wejherowo.

Probably the tombstones from this very necropolis are in the wall around Primary School No. 29 at Ściegiennego Street in Gdynia. In 2011, the case was publicized in the media. In the future, it is planned to dismantle the wall and move fragments of matzevot to the cemetery.

The area is not fenced nor marked in any form. ESJF team found 21 fragments of grave sides (casings) that are partially broken and scattered around the area, and a single fragment of a damaged matzeva with readable writing in German.