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Bobrowniki Jewish Cemetery

Cemetery Information

Country
Poland
Region
Lublin Voivodeship
District
Ryki
Settlement
Bobrowniki
Site address
20, Dęblińska Street.
GPS coordinates
51.54979, 21.92393
Perimeter length
558 metres
Is the cemetery demolished
no
Type and height of existing fence
It is fenced by a metal mesh fence, around 1meter high and the hedge. The metal mesh is damaged in a few places.
Preservation condition
Fenced and protected Jewish cemetery
General site condition
It's a destroyed Jewish cemetery. A few tombstones have been preserved, as have a mass grave and the monument. It's fenced but not protected, as the gate has no lock. The site is in quite good condition, although there is tall grass and some rubbish that needs cleared.
Number of existing gravestones
No tombstone has survived in its entirety. 42 fragments of matzevot have survived. 30 of them are located at gravesites.
Date of oldest tombstone
1852
Date of newest tombstone
N/A
Urgency of erecting a fence
Low
Land ownership
Other
Preserved construction on site
Drone surveys
No

Historical overview

Bobrowniki was founded in 1485 as a private town under Magdeburg Law. The earliest recorded information of Jews residing in Bobrowniki dates to 1676 (personal taxes from five families). In 1744 the town’s then-owner allowed the local Jews to establish a kehilla (organized Jewish community)—including kehilla facilities—and offered them a plot for community buildings near the town square. In 1787 Jews accounted for 297 individuals of the total population of 854. In 1854, the village of Irena was founded near a newly built military fortress in Dęblin. Many of Bobrowniki’s Jews moved there. In 1939 approximately 300 Jews lived in Bobrowniki, and about 3,300 in Dęblin and Irena. During the Holocaust, Germans killed approximately 300 Jews in the cemetery in Bobrowniki and buried them in a mass grave. Jews from the Dęblin Ghetto were transported to the death camps of Sobibór and Treblinka.

The Jewish cemetery in Bobrowniki was founded in 1744 and located approximately 600 m west of the town square, beyond the town limits beside the road to Dęblin (where it remains today). Jews from the from Dęblin and Irena were also buried as they had no cemetery. The cemetery was gradually expanded and, in the interwar period, comprised of three rectangular plots in a U-shape, with an area of 0.9 hectares. It was partially walled and partially fenced by wooden slats and wooded by pine trees. Near the cemetery was a wooden funeral parlour house. During and after World War II, the cemetery was completely destroyed, and was later forgotten and overgrown. The area of the cemetery, however, survived intact. Between 1983 and 1984, thanks to the efforts of Bobrowniki-born Jisrael Ignacy Bubis, the cemetery was renovated and two memorials were erected: one in memory of victims of the Holocaust (at the site of the mass grave) and one in memory of Bubis’ mother. Remains of several dozen matzevot are still in the cemetery. In recent years matzevot found in nearby areas were brought to the cemetery. There are currently approximately 60 partial tombstones, most made of white sandstone.

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