Obj. ID: 52276
Jewish Funerary Art  Jewish cemetery in Pełczyce, Poland

According to ESJF European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative, the Jewish cemetery in Pełczyce was probably established at the beginning of the 19th century. Although Jews already lived here in the Middle Ages, and took part in the battles to defend the city, it was not until the 18th century that their number became noticeable. At the beginning of the 19th century, 37 members of the Jewish community lived in the city, around the middle of the century there were 65 Jews, and another fifty years later, only 37 members again. In the 1920s, their number dropped to 27. At that time, there was a synagogue in the city located at Synagogenstrasse (now Rybacka Street) and the Jewish cemetery located south-west of the city, on Lake Krzywe (now Rakoniew Street). In 1938, during Kristallnacht (November 9-10), the cemetery was devastated. Since 1933 it has been in private hands, but it was destroyed in 1945. After World War II, the cemetery was forgotten by local residents. Numerous stone tombstones with inscriptions in Hebrew and German as well as old trees have survived. The cemetery is surrounded by private land and therefore difficult to access. Unmarked and disordered.

Forty tombstones were found - mainly the frames of graves. The remains of the cemetery wall, including parts of its gate, lie in disorder on the slope and at the top of the hill. The cemetery is unmarked, and there is no direct access path. The cemetery is only provisionally fenced by the landowner. He used a metal mesh, barbed wire, plastic tape and a rubber sheathed cable.

The cemetery is located on the steep shore of Lake Krzywe, in the immediate vicinity of a private property at 5, Rakoniew Street. Access to the cemetery is only through a private area, with the consent of the owner of the above-mentioned property. It is best to walk by the stable, located north-east of the garages at 1, Rakoniew Street, and then along the path through the field leading straight to the wooded area of the cemetery. The cemetery is a part of cadastral parcel no. 320205_4.0009.44/45 (the map to this parcel is attached in the “additional comments” section).