Grubisno Polje Jewish Cemetery

Cemetery Information

Country
Croatia
Region
Bjelovarsko-bilogorska županija
District
Grubišno polje
Settlement
Grubišno polje
Site address
The cemetery is located at 8, Ignjatička Street.
GPS coordinates
45.70642, 17.16727
Perimeter length
112 metres
Is the cemetery demolished
no
Type and height of existing fence
Fenced by ESJF in January 2023.
Preservation condition
Fenced and protected Jewish cemetery
General site condition
This is a fenced and well-maintained Jewish cemetery. The cemetery is almost entirely demolished, with traces of some graves around the site. A Star of David could be seen on one of the tombstone fragments.
Number of existing gravestones
There are some visible graves and fragmented tombstones without inscriptions, but no preserved tombstones.
Date of oldest tombstone
Date of newest tombstone
Urgency of erecting a fence
Fence is not needed
Land ownership
Property of local community
Preserved construction on site
There is a gate bearing a Star of David.
Drone surveys
Yes

Historical overview

Grubišno Polje is a small town in Bjelovar-Bilogora County, about 56.7 miles east of Zagreb. The area was under Turkish rule in the 16th century and, after the departure of the Turks in the 17th century, the place was uninhabited for some time. The first families to resettle in Grubišno Polje arrived in 1698, coming from such places as Lika, Bosnia, the Croatian Littoral, and Istria. The settlement is marked on a map of the first military survey in 1774 as “Dorf Grubisno Polie.” At the end of the 19th century more than 50 Czech and Hungarian families settled in the town. In 1857, Grubišno Polje had 970 inhabitants and, by 1910, had 2,229 inhabitants. In 1910 the population of the village was 36% Serbian, 28% Croatian, 17% Hungarian, and 13% Czech. Grubišno Polje also had a Jewish community that numbered 70 people in 1921, 63 in 1931, and 45 in 1941. During World War II, Croatian fascists arranged for and oversaw the deportation of a small number of Jews to concentration camps. After the war, there were no more Jews in Grubišno Polje. In 2011, this small town had a population of 2,917 people.

The Grubišno Polje Jewish cemetery was in use in the 19th and 20th centuries. Now, however, the cemetery is almost totally destroyed. Only the door at the entrance displaying the Star of David remains and is the sole reminder that it is a Jewish cemetery.