Baranow Jewish Cemetery

Baranów was founded as a private town in 1544 under Magdeburg Law. The earliest recorded mentions of Jews living in Baranów date to 1621, though Jews likely settled in the town earlier. In 1626, 30 Jewish craftsmen were registered in the town. There was likely a synagogue complex located to the southwest of the market square at that time. In 1856, among the town’s 1,799 inhabitants Jews accounted for 953 individuals (53% of the population), and, in 1930, 1,097 (53%) Jews lived among 2,079 inhabitants. During World War II, the Germans vandalized the Jewish community buildings and, in 1942, they deported the Jews to the death camp in Sobibór.

The cemetery was likely established around 1600, outside the town, about 300 metres southeast of the market square, along the road to Czołna, on a small hill (the oldest, most northern part of the cemetery). It was expanded several times towards the south and west, including in 1724 and after World War I. In the interwar period, it was shaped like an irregular polygon with an area of about 2 hectares (ha). It was enclosed with a wooden fence, and there was a building in the oldest part of the cemetery. During World War II, the cemetery was destroyed. The remaining tombstones were stolen by residents after the war and much of the land was used as arable land or for pasture. In the 1970’s, trees (poplars) were planted in the unoccupied northern part of the cemetery (0.9 ha). Currently, there are no above-ground traces of the cemetery. In recent years, only four matzevot found outside the cemetery, made of granite erratic boulders and sandstone (from the first half of the 19th century and 1861), were placed back in the preserved area of the cemetery.