Garesnica Jewish Cemetery

Garešnica is a small town in Bjelovar-Bilogora County, located in the Moslavina region. The first written mention of Garešnica dates to 1277, when King Laszlo IV gave the estate to Bishop Timofey of Zagreb. In 1543, the Turks destroyed the settlement and its surroundings. Most of the population fled to safer areas of the country, while others were enslaved. In the mid-17th century, a Catholic Croatian population settled in the region, near the Lonja and Sava rivers. The settlement, established in 1774, was named “Dorf Garesnicza,” according to the first military survey map. In 1829, there were 1,160 households in the town, 819 of whom were Catholics and 4 of whom were Orthodox residents. The first Jewish families settled in Garešnica in the early 19th century, after which the first shops in the town opened and crafts trades developed. The Jews in Garešnica worked primarily in trade. While relations with the locals were usually good, in November 1918, influenced by anti-Semitic propaganda, local peasants and soldiers attacked Jewish merchants. The anti-Semitic agitators accused the Jews of raising prices and of “Bolshevism.” The damage from the pogroms was estimated at 500,000 crowns. In 1921, 51 Jews lived in the town and, in 1931, 53 Jews lived there. During World War II, the Jews of Garešnica were sent to the concentration camps.

18 graves are preserved in the Garešnica Jewish cemetery. The oldest tombstone dates to 1901, and the latest to 1939. After the Second World War, the cemetery was abandoned.