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Lublin New Jewish Cemetery

Cemetery Information

Country
Poland
Region
Lublin Voivodeship
District
Lublin
Settlement
Lublin
Site address
4, Walecznych Street, on the intersection of Walecznych Street and Generała Władysława Andersa Street. The cemetery area is divided by a road.
GPS coordinates
51.2584420, 22.5793773
Perimeter length
1,560 metres
Is the cemetery demolished
no
Type and height of existing fence
The fence is made of concrete spans in the shape of a matzeva, about 1,5 metres high, and metal spans in the shape of a menorah, about 1 meter high. The northern part of the cemetery was also fenced but the fence there is significantly damaged.
Preservation condition
Fenced and protected Jewish cemetery
General site condition
The northern part of the cemetery has been demolished. No tombstones have survived there. A monument with matzevot was built in the middle of it. That part of the cemetery was fenced with the same fence as the southern part, however the fence was significantly damaged, so it can be considered unfenced. Part of the cemetery is still in use today. In the southern part there is a fenced-in area where burials still take place. Matzevot brought from the entire Lublin region are also stored here. Yes, in the northern part, under the monument, there is a mass grave with the remains of Jews murdered in the Majdanek concentration camp, in the southern part there are two mass graves: of Jewish children and their caretakers and of Jews murdered as a result of the liquidation of the ghetto at Majdanek. When collecting the keys, it is expected that you will pay a voluntary fee of PLN 10 for the maintenance of the cemetery.
Number of existing gravestones
64. Apart from the preserved tombstones, there are almost 200 pieces of matzevot in the cemetery, from various cemeteries in the Lublin region.
Date of oldest tombstone
According to sztetl.org.pl, the cemetery has been in use since 1830, but due to the lack of legible inscriptions the earliest date visible is 1939. There are several tombstones and fragments of tombstones that could be from an earlier period but the dates are not legible.
Date of newest tombstone
2007
Urgency of erecting a fence
Low
Land ownership
Municipality
Preserved construction on site
There are two ohels, dedicated to Tzadik Jehuda Leib Eiger and Rabbi Meir Szapiro.
Drone surveys
Yes

Historical overview

The land for the new Jewish cemetery in Lublin (about 3.66 hectares (ha)) was purchased in 1829, and burials began in 1930. It was located 1.3 km north of the market square, outside the built-up area of the city. In the southern part, there was a square with a funeral house, utility rooms, and an access road. The cemetery was surrounded by a brick wall. The cemetery was gradually expanded towards the north and, in the 1930’s, covered a highly elongated polygon-shaped area of 8.6 ha. There were mainly traditional stelae in the cemetery, but there were also non-traditional tombstones (obelisks, sculptures of a broken tree, piled up rocks, etc.). Two brick ohels were also built in the cemetery: one commemorating the Ejger rabbinic dynasty of Lublin Hasidim (burials from 1888 to 1930; rebuilt in 1998) and the other honoring Rabbi Jehuda Meir Szapira (the preserved, original one). In 1918, a small Jewish military cemetery was established on the southern side of the new cemetery. During World War II, as a result of numerous deaths in the Ghetto, the new cemetery was expanded by 2.5 ha to the north in 1940. Until the liquidation of the Ghetto, over 6,000 people were buried there. After 1942, the cemetery was almost completely destroyed. Only a fragment of the wall and a few tombstones have survived. In 1944, after the liberation of Lublin, the current cemetery was established on the site of the former cemetery square, which is still in use. The bodies of Jews exhumed from the city and its surrounding areas were also buried in the cemetery over time (the last burial was in 1990). Two Holocaust memorials were erected in the newest part of the cemetery. In the 1960’s, the cemetery was leveled and divided by a new communication artery. Moreover, two of the more remote areas of the cemetery were built over. In the years 1988–1993, thanks to the funds of the Sara and Manfred Bass-Frenkel Foundation, the cemetery was fenced with artistic elements made of concrete and cast iron, and two architectural memorials were erected at the southern and northern edges. The southern part of the former burial ground is an empty meadow, and the northern part is organized as a square with alleys. The area of the former military cemetery is within the contemporary boundaries of the cemetery. The cemetery is also used to store tombstones found in the city and its surrounding areas (Wieniawa, Głusk, Puławy).

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