Elk Jewish Cemetery

This cemetery was like a hill from the side of "Caritas". Only it is beheaded. One-third stayed, and it was bigger. There was a red brick border, there were boards inside, Jewish inscriptions, but they had been beaten up by the Germans. He couldn't be farther because there was a swamp there. There, such a house stood closer to the cemetery, when spring came, there were dikes, boards, because he couldn't get to the house, everything was collapsing. And finally they decided to cover it up. But the house stayed. The post-German cemetery in Ełk was small compared to what it is now. He was only in the part where the main gate is. And there were a lot of monuments, that is, not monuments, but chapels like you can see when you enter the cemetery on the left. There is such a shrine there. There were twenty or more such chapels here. Along this avenue and then to the right. Famous people were buried here, they had their family tombs. But these monuments were destroyed, unfortunately, by ours too. But the Russians were not lagging behind either. Because they thought that there were great treasures there, so they smashed it, because the entrance is known to be closed, it is not easy to open, and then it kept opening. They walked in, took out and even debris was scattered about. But for many years these chapels stood, they were carved, really nice. Well, unfortunately, only this one is now. (Source: Historical Museum in Ełk; https://muzeum.elk.pl/historia/cmentarze-w-elku/ ) * * * The cemetery was established in 1837 in the suburbs near the mountain called “Jerusalemberg”. It was surrounded by a brick wall, which was partially destroyed during the operations in August 1914. At that time, several Russian soldiers of the Mosaic faith were buried there, although, as you can see on one of the occasional war postcards, Christian soldiers - possibly Orthodox - were also buried here. The cemetery was devastated during the "Kristallnacht". Even in the 1960s, its area was overgrown and there were at least a few matzevot and graves there. There was a building nearby - perhaps a funeral home. In the following years, this area was leveled and finally built-up. John Paul II Square was built in its place, which partially covers the area of ​​the former Jewish cemetery. In 2004, the Union of Jewish Communities demanded that a part of the square with an area of ​​approx. 1,800 sq. meters be donated. Until 2016, no claims were brought after a negative response from the municipal commune in Ełk. Memories about the Jewish cemetery can be found in the Oral History Collections of the Historical Museum in Ełk. According to Jarosław Kamiński's information, in the 1960s, fragments of a brick fence were still visible in the cemetery, and inside there were several plaques and tombstones with Hebrew inscriptions that "had already been beaten by the Germans". When the cemetery was later finally liquidated, the adjoining mortuary building was left behind. (“Żydowskie domy modlitwy oraz cmentarze na Warmii i Mazurach – stan obecny” book by Seweryn Szczepański, 2017; doi.org/10.26774/rzz.165) The cemetery was established in 1837. Entering its premises, you passed through a massive gate. It was located near the imposing earth mound called Jerusalemberg (German: Jerusalem Mountain). Today it is difficult to say whether the name Jerusalemberg was derived from the nearby Jewish cemetery, or whether Jews had previously been buried on that hill. For it hides undoubtedly human remains, most likely plagued, and people who, for various reasons, could not be buried at the church. Knowing the analogies, among others from Dąbrówno or Węgorzewo, it can be assumed that it was in such places that Jews were buried as “strangers” - culturally and religiously. In 1880, on the cadastral map of Ełk, the area of ​​the Jewish cemetery together with the Jerusalemberg hill was marked as Jüdenplatz. In 1916, the remains of Russian soldiers of the Mosaic faith who died near Ełk during World War I in 1914–1915 were buried at the cemetery. The cemetery was partially devastated, most probably after the Nazis came to power in the 1930s. Even in the 1960s, its area was overgrown and there was at least one matzevah there. Later the area was leveled. The last earthworks to remove the remains of the cemetery took place around 1976. Single field stones, probably fragments of the old fence and one carved stone - a fragment of a tombstone, have survived to our times. Currently, the area of ​​the cemetery partly covers the John Paul II Square, whose monument is located just beyond the edge of the former cemetery. (sztetl.org.pl) * * * An erratic boulder with a matzevah-shaped board was unveiled on Sunday afternoon. The ceremony was attended by a rabbi, a Catholic priest and pastors of the Evangelical-Augsburg Church. A plaque with inscriptions in Polish, German and Hebrew informs that in the 19th century there was a Jewish cemetery. "Let their souls be woven into the knot of life" - reads the inscription. The plaque is crowned with a Star of David. The placement of the boulder was financed by the local Foundation for the Support of Science and Business. (30.06.2019; https://dzieje.pl/dziedzictwo-kulturowe/w-elku-odslonieto-glaz-z-tablica-upamietniajaca-zydow ) * * * Cemetery in Ełk during the First World War. Visible damage to the brick fence of the necropolis at the beginning of World War I. In the background, visible matzevot and graves of fallen soldiers.