Kazimierz Dolny Old Jewish Cemetery

The first records of Jews in Kazimierz Dolny date to 1406. In the 19th century, the Kuzmir Hasidic dynasty was founded in the town by Rebbe Jechezkiel Taub. In 1921, 1,382 Jews lived in the town constituting 41% of the entire population, most of whom were murdered by the Germans in Bełżec in 1942. The cemetery is located approximately 480 metres southeast of the market square, on Lubelska Street, on the partially leveled slope of Sitarz Mountain. The cemetery was established in the 16th century and its existence was first mentioned in 1588. In 1780, the cemetery was expanded. In 1792, the administrative authorities ordered the cemetery to be closed and a new burial place to be established outside the of city, which did not happen until 1851. Funerals were sporadically still held in the old cemetery, such as for Rebbe Jechezkiel Taub who was was buried there in 1856. Before 1939, the cemetery covered an irregularly shaped plot of land measuring approximately 60 x 60 m and was enclosed with a limestone wall. At that time, the oldest part of the cemetery was neglected. During World War II, by order of the Germans, part of the cemetery hill was leveled, and barracks were erected in the cemetery. In the 1950’s or 1960’s, a school and playground were built in the cemetery. Parts of some matzevot were used to build a retaining wall at the playground. Currently, the southern part of the cemetery is the school and playground. A monument stylized as a matzevah was erected outside of the school fence. In the northern part, on the hill, there are remains of the original cemetery wall, which mark the northern and north-eastern border, and single fragments of some tombstones (mentioned in the Cemetery Card from 1992). Periodically, bones slide from the leveled part of the hill. Archaeological research carried out in recent years has revealed many graves in the location of the playground. The Kazimierz Dolny Commune is the owner of the cemetery. The facility is not listed in the Municipal and Provincial Register of Monuments or the Register of Immovable Monuments of the Lubelskie Province.