Obj. ID: 49362
Jewish Funerary Art  Jewish cemetery in Kolno, Poland

According to ESJF European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative, the cemetery was established following a decision issued by the authorities on September 18, 1817. The Jewish community had to pay the annual rent. Earlier, the Jews of Kolno were buried in Śniadowo and Łomża. In the summer of 1941, the cemetery was the place of anti-Semitic incidents that took place in Kolno after the German offensive against the Soviet Union. Jews were forced to bury a statue of Lenin in the cemetery. The cemetery was also used for carrying out executions. The destruction of the cemetery began during World War II—because of the military operations of the Wehrmacht and the theft of tombstones by the locals—and continued through the following decades. The cemetery was used as a pasture.

In 2005, at the initiative of Rabbi Shlomo Besser, the family of Emanuel Toporowitz from Kolno, and the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland, the cemetery was cleaned up, the fence was repaired, and a gate was built. In recent years, a part of the fence, the gate, and the information board placed on it have been destroyed. The cemetery has a concrete wall about 1.7-1.8 m high with a metal and stone gate on the eastern side. A section of the concrete wall next to the entrance gate, about 12-13 m long, has collapsed. A portion of the stone entrance arch has also collapsed. The cemetery wall is damaged (the paint is cracked and peeling) in a number of places.

Within the cemetery, there are about 300 tombstones, most of which are made of granite fieldstones.

Date of oldest tombstone: 1828
Date of newest tombstone: 1936
Perimeter length: 572 metres

The owner of the cemetery is the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage. The facility is listed in the Municipal and Provincial Register of Monuments and the Register of Immovable Monuments.

To reach the cemetery, head west via Marii Dąbrowskiej Street, stop on the northern side of the road 200 metres past the intersection with Dębowa and Aleksandrowska streets.