Jasionowka New Jewish Cemetery

Cemetery Information

Country
Poland
Region
Podlaskie Voivodeship
District
Mońki
Settlement
Jasionówka
Site address
The cemetery is located on the hill, approximately 400m to the north east of the Jasionówka-Słomianka road and approximately 200m to the north-west of the Jasionówka-Korycin road.
GPS coordinates
53.403509, 23.042037
Perimeter length
372 metres
Is the cemetery demolished
no
Type and height of existing fence
No fence
Preservation condition
Unfenced Jewish cemetery
General site condition
The destroyed Jewish cemetery has many preserved tombstones. The terrain is partially densely overgrown by trees and scrubs and tall grass in the early summer. The cemetery is located on the hill amongst pine forest and arable fields. There is no access road and only a footpath to the cemetery (from the north-east, from the side of a small sand quarry, walking through fields and forest - photos 01 to 10). The cemetery is in poor condition, with no fence and only the remnants of a stone wall. Tombstones have sunk into the ground, many of them are not in their original locations. The inscriptions are in hebrew and many of them are readable.
Number of existing gravestones
227 tombstones or their pieces were found. It is possible that there are more tombstones in this cemetery. Stones were found hidden in the grass under a layer of soil, some could also be hidden in the impenetrable scrubs.
Date of oldest tombstone
the 1st half of the 19th century (according to K. Bielawski)
Date of newest tombstone
1931
Urgency of erecting a fence
High
Land ownership
State
Preserved construction on site
No
Drone surveys
Yes

Historical overview

The Jewish cemetery in Jasionówka is located approximately 900 metres (m) north-east of the town centre, approximately 160 m west of the voivodeship road no. 671, on a hill, and covers the rectangular plot no. 613, with an area of 1.18 hectares. The cemetery was established at the beginning of the 19th century and was in use until World War II. During the war, the Holocaust victims were buried there, including 8 people who were found in hiding and shot in the village of Kamionka. At that time, the cemetery fell into disrepair. Within the cemetery, there are no fewer than 150 tombstones in various conditions, in the form of granite and sandstone stelae with concrete bases. The oldest identified matzevah commemorates Cwi, a son of Mosze, who died on February 14, 1831. A list of 128 preserved tombstones is available on the website of the Foundation for Documentation of Jewish Cemeteries in Poland (https://cemetery.jewish.org.pl/list/c_88). The boundaries of the cemetery are imperceptible, though they are partially marked by the decayed stone wall. A part of the area is covered with mixed forest. There are no contemporary forms of commemoration. The owner of the cemetery is the State Treasury, and the Jasionówka Commune uses the cemetery. Proceedings for the transfer of property rights to the Jewish community are still pending. The facility is listed in the Municipal and Provincial Register of Monuments and in the Register of Immovable Monuments of the Podlaskie Voivodeship.

The first records of Jews in Jasionówka come from the 16th century. The Jewish community significantly developed in the second half of the following century. In the 18th century, there was a kehilla (organized Jewish community) in Jasionówka, which was subordinate to the Jewish community in Tykocin. 346 Jews lived in the town in 1799, 951 in 1847, and 1,306 in 1921 (74% of the total population). The Germans murdered almost all the Jews from the town at the beginning of 1943 in Treblinka.