Obj. ID: 50169
Jewish Funerary Art  New Jewish Cemetery at Miodowa St. in Kraków, Poland - Photos of 2021

To the main object: New Jewish Cemetery at Miodowa Street in Kraków, Poland

According to ESJF European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative, the cemetery is located between Miodowa Street, Siedleckiego Street, and Aleja Daszyńskiego Street, and covers an irregularly shaped plot of land with an area of about 4.2 hectares. The cemetery was established at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1800, the Jewish community purchased land from the Augustinian Convent. In later years, the cemetery was gradually expanded. Rabbi Klonimus Kalman Epstein (died 1823, also known as the Ma-Or va-Shamesh), Rabbi Mosze Jakow Dembitzer (died 1863), Rabbi Szymon Schreiber (died 1839), the painter Maurycy Gottlieb (died 1879), and deputy mayor of Kraków and Member of Parliament Józef Sare (died 1929) are buried there. During World War I, War Cemetery No. 387 was established within the cemetery. At the beginning of the 20th century, the cemetery was nearly full. From 1932 onwards, burials took place in the cemeteries at Abrahama Street and Jerozolimska Street. During World War II, the cemetery was partially damaged. The Germans used many tombstones for construction purposes and sold them to stone factories. Local inhabitants of Kraków contributed to the degradation over the following decades. After 1945, the Kraków Congregation of the Jewish Faith maintained the cemetery and carried out restoration work. The cemetery is still used for burial purposes. There are about 7,000 tombstones in various conditions, and the funeral house erected in 1903 is now also used as a mikveh. The area is fenced and regularly cleaned. The fence is brick on the western side and stone and iron on the northern side. The owner of the cemetery is the Jewish Community of Kraków. The facility is listed in the register of immovable monuments of the Małopolskie Voivodeship.

There are 3 mass graves with exhumed and transferred bodies: a mass grave of 103 Jews from Wesola near Słomnik; the ashes of Jewish from Tymbark near Limanowa and the ashes of 190 Jews murdered in Skawina.