Obj. ID: 52059
Jewish Funerary Art Jewish cemetery in Krzepice, Poland
According to ESJF European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative, the area of the cemetery is approximately 1.4 hectares. Originally, the cemetery area was surrounded by a limestone wall with a gate and a wooden fence on one side. The historic fence has only been preserved in fragments. Until today, 310 stone and 402 cast-iron tombstones have been preserved in the cemetery. There are inscriptions in Hebrew on the tombstones. The cemetery in Krzepice is one of the largest clusters of cast iron tombstones in Europe, most of which were made in the smelter in Kuźnica Stara.
After World War II, the cemetery fell into disrepair. In 1997, the Polish Union of Jewish Students partially restored the cemetery and created an inventory of the tombstones. In 2000, young people from Poland and Israel carried out cleaning and renovation work in the cemetery as part of the “Antyschematy” project. Among other things, the cast iron tombstones were cleaned and protected with paint. In 2009, as part of the same project, the cemetery was cleaned up by a group of young people from Warsaw. In July 2011, a few cast-iron tombstones were stolen from the cemetery, but thanks to the help of one of the inhabitants, the tombstones were found at a scrapyard. In 2013, at the initiative of an anonymous descendant of Jews from Klepice, a monument designed by Romuald Cieśla was erected in the cemetery. It was dedicated to the memory of the Lipszyc and Zelcer families. In 2014, at the request of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, the Foundation for the Documentation of Jewish Cemeteries carried out an inventory and photographic documentation of the tombstones located in the Klepice cemetery. By the decision of May 27, 1988, the cemetery was included in the Register of Monuments (A / 426/88).
