Bogoria Jewish Cemetery

The first Jewish settlements in Bogoria date back to the 18th century. In 1923, 530 Jews lived in the town. The majority of them were murdered by the Germans in Treblinka in 1942.

The cemetery is located around 200 meters north-east of the market square, at Spokojna Street, it was likely established in the 18th century. In 1928, the cemetery was overcrowded, according to the authorities of the Sandomierz district, “in the event of the death of a fellow believer, the Jews dismantled the wall to bury the body.”

During World War II, the cemetery was destroyed. At the behest of the Germans, the roads were paved with tombstones and they were also used as building material for other projects.

On September 11th 1962, the Minister of the Municipal Economy, responding to the resolution of the Presidium of the Municipal National Council in Bogoria on May 13th 1961, issued a decision to close and liquidate the cemetery. The documentation states that the cemetery covered a plot of 0.4162 hectares, there was no mortgage register, the last burial took place in 1941, and that “during the war in 1944, mementos of historical value and the cemetery fence were completely dismantled and used for road construction. In the years 1954-1958, the area of the cemetery was used for agricultural purposes.” The authorities justified the destruction, as they needed the land to build a new pharmacy to cut down on waiting times for medicine in Staszów. In the following years, a pharmacy and a fire station for the Volunteer Fire Department were established on the site. Any above-ground signs of the cemetery disappeared.

The boundaries of the cemetery are invisible. There is no commemoration of any kind. Plots separated from the terrain of the cemetery are the property of the State Treasury. The cemetery has been registered into the Provincial Register of Monuments (no. E-1987-08-31).