Markuszow New Jewish Cemetery
Cemetery Information
Historical overview
Markuszów is a small town located about 30 km from Lublin. It was founded as a private town, with its town rights granted in the mid-16th century due to the efforts of the Firlej family. Data on individual Jewish inhabitants dates back to the first half of the 17th century, however a Jewish community was not established until the end of the 17th century. The Jewish quarter was located to the east of the market square, and in time, it also expanded to the south-eastern part of Markuszów. 100m to the east of the market square, there was a synagogue with a small cemetery located to the north of the building. The cemetery likely was in use until the turn of the 19th century. At that time, a new cemetery was established approximately 700m south-east of the town center, outside the residential buildings of the Jewish quarter.
The cemetery was enlarged around 1937 and was surrounded by a concrete fence. At the beginning of World War II the city was bombed, including the cemetery. The victims of two mass executions in 1942 and 1943 were buried at the cemetery. During the war, the matzevot were used for various purposes such as the construction of pavements, stairs, thresholds as well as other uses. This practice was continued after the war. In the 1970s, the cemetery was planted with trees, and livestock were grazed there, it also became a place where locals would build bonfires and carouse.
The cemetery was entered into the Register of Monuments in 1989 (number: A/1000), with research work carried out at the cemetery in 1991/92. At the beginning of the 21st century, grazing at the cemetery was ended and as such it became overgrown. In August 2016, cleaning work was carried out in which the family of Dan Oren, volunteers from the Matzevah Foundation (USA), and volunteers from the Studnia Pamięci Association (Lublin, Poland) participated. The cemetery is located approximately 50m east of Łachy Street, behind the household plots. Arable plots and fields surround the cemetery on the other sides. The cemetery is a rectangle approximately 90 × 60 m and it covers an area of 0.54 hectares. On the southern and eastern bounds, fragments of the concrete fence have survived. During the research carried out in the 1990s, around 160 objects were found in the area including: 68 matzevot, 89 flat tombstones (some with remains of inscriptions), and 2 mass graves. The cleaning works in 2016 allowed the discovery of more individual matzevot and flat tombstones. The preserved matzevot (most of which are overturned) are located mainly in the southern and eastern part of the cemetery, as well as in the central northern part. The three oldest tombstones, dating from 1847, 1853 and 1855, are located in the western part of the cemetery. In 2016, the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland erected a monument near them. Since 2016 the cemetery has started to become overgrown with wild plants again.