Dzialoszyce Jewish Cemetery

According to records, Jews first settled in Działoszyce in the 16th century. In 1921, 5,618 Jews lived in the town (83.6% of the total population), most of whom were killed by the Germans in Bełżec in September 1942. The cemetery is located about 250 metres south-east of the market square, on a hill at Skalbmierska Street. The cemetery was established after the privilege granted to the Jews of Działoszyce in 1707 by the owner of the town, Jan Szczęsny Stradomski. At the beginning of the 20th century, the cemetery was fenced with a wall, and there were a funeral house and a gravedigger’s house at the entrance. In 1930, the value of the funeral house was estimated at 8,000 zlotys, and the value of the cemetery (including the wall) was estimated at 12,000 zlotys. In early of September 1942, the Germans shot between 1500-1600 Jews in the cemetery (however, other sources suggest it occurred near the cemetery), most of whom were elderly. The bodies were buried in the cemetery in mass graves. The gradual destruction of the cemetery likely began at that time. All the tombstones were destroyed, and the fence and buildings were pulled down. In the period of the Polish People’s Republic, the area was covered with trees.

In 1989, Jews from Działoszyce unveiled a monument erected on the mass grave of the Holocaust victims. In the list of Jewish cemeteries prepared by the Provincial Office in Kielce in 1991, the report stated that the cemetery in Działoszyce covers the plot no. 696 with an area of 4,179 hectares and that the authorities had not decided to close it. In the “Technical Condition” section, the following was written: “There are no traces of the cemetery, fence nor tombstones. […] Thanks to the efforts of the Municipal Office of Gdańsk, part of the area was separated in 1989 and a monument commemorating the Jews murdered in 1942 by the occupant was erected. In 1989, the tombstone commemorating Chil Dawid Salomon, Tauba Salomon Śpiewak was erected by the family next to the monument”.

In 2009, at the initiative of Menachem Daum, about 100 plaques with the names of people buried in the cemetery were placed there. The cemetery is owned by the State Treasury. It is listed in the Municipal Heritage Register (no. G-2016-02-01) and the Provincial Heritage Register (no. E-1987-08-31).