Obj. ID: 52289
Jewish Funerary Art  Site of the Old Jewish cemetery in Kołobrzeg, Poland

According to ESJF European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative, the Jewish community in Kołobrzeg, established at the beginning of the 19th century, received from the municipal authorities the land for a religious cemetery in the then Münderfeld. Later, this area was called Theatre Park (today Park Nadmorski, at the intersection of Zdrojowa and Adama Mickiewicza streets).

The contract with the magistrate was signed on April 14, 1815 (earlier the Jews of Kołobrzeg buried their deceased in cemeteries in neighbouring towns, including Gryfice and Świdwin). In 1847, the religious community signed an agreement with the city authorities regarding the enlargement of the cemetery area. Nevertheless, already in 1885 there were no free burial places. The necropolis was closed by a police order and the Jews were buried in the new cemetery in Kösliner Straße.

At the beginning of the 1930s, there were still almost all tombstones in the cemetery. However, around 1937, the authorities forced the community to clear the old cemetery. At that time, the graves were not moved, only larger and more valuable monuments were taken, which were placed at the entrance to the new Jewish cemetery. The old cemetery was finally devastated and destroyed during Kristallnacht in November 1938.

In 1995, the cemetery was “rediscovered”, initially by illegal prospectors of precious metals. In the fragment of the park that had been disturbed by them, tombstones with inscriptions in Hebrew were unearthed. The range of the first cemetery within the contemporary Seaside Park was established at the end of August 1998. However, further searches ended with finding only stones that were stored in the municipal warehouse of building materials.
On October 24, 2000, a lapidarium was opened in the old cemetery, with six tombstones from both necropolises in Kołobrzeg.

The cemetery area now forms part of the city park. The area is not fenced. From the side of the roundabout of Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy, a lapidarium was built in the form of a Star of David. There is a granite plaque commemorating the Jewish community of Kołobrzeg and stone pillars with attached preserved tombstones. Many old trees are preserved on the territory. There are six tombstones standing in the lapidarium.

The cemetery is located at the north-west part of Teatralny Park, along Zdrojowa Street, next to the Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy roundabout. 

Holocaust memorial on the site of the Old Jewish cemetery in Kołobrzeg, Poland