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Goworowo Jewish Cemetery

Cemetery Information

Country
Poland
Region
Masovian Voivodeship
District
Ostrołęka
Settlement
Goworowo
Site address
The cemetery is located south west of the village. Stop 85m east past 47, Wólka Brzezińska Streeet and then head 300m north through the fields. The area of the cemetery is marked by the trees.
GPS coordinates
52.9000108, 21.5779424
Perimeter length
473 metres.
Is the cemetery demolished
yes
Type and height of existing fence
No fence.
Preservation condition
Demolished Jewish cemetery that has not been built over
General site condition
The demolished Jewish cemetery of Goworowo is situated in a rural area among agricultural fields. The area is an isolated agricultural flat land surrounded by trees, its eastern border adjoins the railway tracks. The access to the cemetery is through private properties or agricultural lands, the area is is open to all with no wall or gate. The territory is now a private farming field. The area is not marked as a former Jewish cemetery. No traces of the cemetery’s existence have been preserved and there are no tombstones.
Number of existing gravestones
No tombstones preserved.
Date of oldest tombstone
N/A
Date of newest tombstone
N/A
Urgency of erecting a fence
High
Land ownership
Private
Preserved construction on site
No
Drone surveys
No

Historical overview

The first records of Jewish settlement in Goworowo date to the 18th century. In 1921, there were 1,085 Jews living in Goworowo, constituting 91.4% of the village’s total population of 1,187 inhabitants. The largest number of Jews living in the Goworowo Commune at a given point was 1,228. In mid-September 1939, the Germans forced all Jews to leave the village.

The cemetery is located about 1 km south-east of the town centre, east of the village of Wólka Brzezińska, between the road to Brzeźno and the Orz River, near the railway line. The cemetery covers a plot of land shaped like a trapezoid with an area of approximately 1.5 hectares. The exact date of the cemetery’s establishment is unknown, though it is mentioned in visit records in the Goworowo parish from 1781. In 1851, the cemetery was mentioned in a letter from the Government Commission for Internal and Religious Affairs to the Płock Governorate. In the interwar period, the area was surrounded by a stone wall. At the entrance, there was a building that served either as a funeral house or a caretaker’s apartment.

The cemetery was partially damaged during World War II. By order of the Germans, some matzevot were used to reinforce the roads and the driveway of the presbytery. Destruction of the cemetery continued after the war and some residents used tombstones for construction purposes. Almost all matzevot were removed, and the wall and buildings were torn down. A drainage ditch was dug in the southern part of the plot and the land is used as a meadow. The boundaries of the cemetery are visible thanks to an earth embankment, covered with trees and shrubs. In 1987, single tombstones were discovered in the cemetery’s land. In 1988, the authorities of Goworów took out the matzevot from the courtyard of the presbytery and placed them at the local library. After a few years, the tombstones were moved to the warehouse of the Commune Office.

The cemetery plot is private property, and it is listed in the Provincial Register of Monuments. There is no form of commemoration.

Goworowo Jewish Cemetery
Goworowo Jewish Cemetery
Goworowo Jewish Cemetery
Goworowo Jewish Cemetery
Goworowo Jewish Cemetery
Goworowo Jewish Cemetery
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