Losice Jewish Cemetery

Jewish settlement in Łosice dates to the end of the 17th century. In 1921, 2,708 Jews lived in the town (69.65% of the total population), most of them were murdered in 1942 by the Germans in Treblinka.

The cemetery is located about 200 metres northwest of the market square, between 11 Listopada Street, Marszałka Piłsudskiego Street, and the Toczna River. The cemetery established after the privilege issued by King Jan III Sobieski, and granted to the Jews of Łódz on May 30, 1690, guaranteeing “the freedom to have a school and a cemetery in the town”. No further information about the history of the cemetery is available. During World War II, the Germans carried out executions at the cemetery, and people killed in the town were buried there. In February 1943, the Germans shot Abram Bekierman, P […] Bekierman, and […] Majsner, and, in the fall of 1943, killed an additional four men with unknown names. The degradation of the cemetery began around this time. By order of the Germans, at least some matzevot were used to reinforce the yard of the military police station. In the 1960’s, the 20th-Anniversary Park was arranged at the cemetery with a stage as well as a playground for children, and festivities and dance games were organized. All above-ground traces of the cemetery have disappeared. In 2003, thanks to the pressure of Jews of Łosice origin and the Poland Jewish Cemetery Restoration Project, the matzevot were recovered from the square in front of the former gendarmerie post. In 2007, the cemetery was fenced and the preserved matzevot were used to form a lapidarium. On May 20, 2008, the work was officially completed. A partial list of the preserved matzevot is available at https://cemetery.jewish.org.pl/list/c_13