Laszczow Jewish Cemetery

Łaszczów was founded as a private town under Magdeburg Law in 1549. The earliest mention of Jews living in Łaszczów dates to 1629 when two Jewish households were recorded in the town. In 1643, three Jewish households were recorded in the town, and, in 1719, records confirm the existence of a kehilla. In 1750, a synagogue (probably wooden), the location of which is unknown, was mentioned in the records. In 1765, 360 Jews paid tax in the entire kehilla. In the 1770’s and 1780’s, the kehilla bought two brick buildings from the destroyed castle and converted them into a synagogue and a beit midrash (on Rycerska Street). In 1827, there were 862 Jews among 909 inhabitants (86% of the total population) and, by 1921, there were 1,041 Jews among 1,141 inhabitants (93%). During World War II, the Germans vandalized the Jewish community buildings. In 1942, during the liquidation of the ghetto, some people were shot on the spot in the town, and the rest were deported to the death camps in Bełżec and in Sobibór.

The cemetery was established by at least the first half of the 18th century and was located about 400 metres west of the market square. The burial area was gradually expanded. There are no details about its history or appearance. In the interwar period, it was shaped like an irregular polygon and covered an area of at least 0.5 hectares (ha). During World War II, the Germans destroyed the cemetery and used the tombstones for construction purposes. After the war, local residents stole the remaining matzevot. The area of the cemetery was used as arable land. A part of the area was later used for building a veterinarian clinic, a kindergarten, and residential houses. Between 1990–1994, at the initiative of the Jewish community of Łaszczów in Israel, the remaining part of the cemetery (about 0.28 ha) was cleaned up and enclosed with a metal fence. The remains of 124 victims exhumed from mass graves outside the cemetery were reburied there. A monument dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust was also erected in the cemetery as well as a dozen or so symbolic concrete stelae. Matzevot found in the town and its vicinity were placed next to the monument. So far, there are over a dozen stelae made of limestone and sandstone, the oldest of which is from the second half of the 18th century. The area is covered with grass, and partly with young trees and shrubs.