Lubycza Krolewska Jewish Cemetery

Lubycza Królewska was founded in c. 1750 under the Magdeburg Law as a private town. Registry data shows several dozen Jews lived there as early as 1752. A kehilla (organized Jewish community) was likely established in the latter half of the 18th century. The synagogue facilities were built in the northeast part of town, close to the town square. Jews ran several industrial businesses. For instance, they leased a factory (founded in the mid-19th century) that produced well-known faience pottery for use in Jewish religious worship. In the 19th and 20th centuries Jews comprised 80 – 90% of the town’s total population. In 1939 among the 740 residents in the town, 630 of them were Jewish (85%). During World War II, the Germans destroyed the synagogue complex and, in 1942 the local Jews, were deported to Bełżec.

The cemetery was likely founded in the latter half of the 18th century and was located approximately 300 m east of the town square. It was later expanded in the second half of the 19th century. In the interwar period, the cemetery’s land was shaped like an irregular quadrangle and covered approximately 0.5 hectares. It was surrounded by a stone wall and lightly wooded. It had two buildings: a (presumed) mortuary and an ohel. During World War II the cemetery was partially destroyed, and the tombstones were used for paving roads. After the war, the local population destroyed the remainder of the cemetery, and the wall and tombstones were used in other construction projects. For some time, the empty cemetery was used as pasture. In the 1980’s the area was bulldozed, paved through with a new road, and divided into plots intended for detached houses. Currently no traces of the cemetery remain. Only two tombstones were found, dating to the mid-19th century.