Jadow Jewish Cemetery

The first records of Jews in Jadów date to the 18th century. In 1921, 1,492 Jews lived in the village (75.9% of the total population), most of whom were murdered in September 1942 by the Germans in Treblinka. The cemetery is located about 1.8 km west of the market square, at the junction of the roads to Sulejów and Mokra Wieś, about 50 metres (m) south of road No. 636. The cemetery covers a rectangular plot measuring approximately 55 x 125 m. The cemetery’s establishment date is unknown, though it was certainly established no later than in 1851, as evidenced by documents in the Józefów synagogal records which note income from a burial fee of 7.50 rubles. During World War II, the cemetery was the burial place for people killed in and around Jadów. In 1942, about 100-200 people murdered by the Germans during the deportation of Jews to the Treblinka extermination camp were buried in a mass grave. Their bodies were later dug up and burned. After 1945, the Jews of Jadów who survived the Holocaust marked and memorialised the mass grave. The destruction of the cemetery likely begun during the war. Metal parts from the mass grave’s fence were stolen, and the monument commemorating the victims of the Holocaust was destroyed.

As a result of the destruction, no more than 100 tombstones or their fragments have survived, and only about 20 have survived in full form. The mass grave is in the eastern part of the cemetery and is surrounded by a concrete pedestal. A few matzevot and a plaque commemorating Berta and Rubin Berensztejn, killed in 1942, are within the cemetery’s boundaries. The borders are visible due to the earth embankment. The area is covered with birches, pines, and oaks. In 2008, a sign was placed next to the Jadów-Mokra Wieś road, pointing to the entrance of the cemetery. In 2012, a symbolic tombstone for Sarah Litvak, who died in 2011 in Chicago, was unveiled at the cemetery. The list of parts of the preserved matzevot is available at http://cemetery.jewish.org.pl/list/c_40. The owner of the cemetery is the Jewish Community in Warsaw, and it is listed in the Provincial Register of Monuments.