Mlynary Jewish Cemetery
Cemetery Information
Country
Poland
Region
Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship
District
Elbląg
Settlement
Młynary
Site address
Elbląska Street, currently fenced private property (without number), between properties at 1A Elbląska and 3 Elbląska streets.
GPS coordinates
54.187544, 19.715357
Perimeter length
100 metres
Is the cemetery demolished
yes
Type and height of existing fence
It is fenced by a private owner. The fence doesn’t mark the cemetery’s territory as a cemetery.
Preservation condition
Demolished Jewish cemetery that has not been built over
General site condition
Demolished cemetery, fenced by a private owner. The area is probably used as a recreational lot. Probably no tombstones left (the area is fenced and the gate closed). Field team took some pictures through the fence. No tombstones spotted.
Number of existing gravestones
No tombstones preserved.
Date of oldest tombstone
N/A
Date of newest tombstone
N/A
Urgency of erecting a fence
High
Land ownership
Private
Preserved construction on site
No
Drone surveys
No
Historical overview
In this small town, Jews have been certified since 1817, when Salomon Laserstein, who traded in wool and bristles, settled here with his family. In the following years, their number increased slightly: in 1827 - 28, 1828 - 38, 1847 - 47, and in 1858 - 60, which was the maximum number. The cemetery was established after the merchant, Hirsch Flatow, purchased in 1831 a plot of land in the suburbs at today's Elbląska Street. As Guido Stark, the author of the Młynar monograph, describes - 27 people were buried here in 1926.
After the last Jewish family who had taken care of the cemetery left Młynary around 1936, it was devastated. One of the farmers, who lived in the vicinity of the Jewish cemetery, collected matzevot in order to provide access to the farm. However, some matzevot survived the Nazi turmoil and even after 1945 were scattered around the former cemetery - on the site of the current gas station. Unfortunately, it is not known what ultimately happened to them.
(“Żydowskie domy modlitwy oraz cmentarze na Warmii i Mazurach – stan obecny” book by Seweryn Szczepański, 2017; doi.org/10.26774/rzz.165)
The local Jewish community never established its own religious community and was subordinate to the community in Pasłęk. However, there was a house of prayer in a private apartment in Młynary, and from 1831 there was a religious cemetery here.
After Hitler took power in Germany, the Jews from Młynary decided to emigrate. The last 11 families left the town probably in the early 1930s. After the last family left around 1936, the Jewish cemetery was devastated. Among the names of the victims of the Holocaust, there are personal details of two Jews associated with the Młynary, who died in the Riga ghetto and in the camp in Sachsenhausen.
(Source: https://www.historia-wyzynaelblaska.pl/m-ynary.html )
The Jewish cemetery in Młynary, at today's Elbląska Street, was established in the first half of the 19th century. In 1831 the merchant Hirsch Flatow bought a plot from the city treasurer, located outside the city, north of the Bauda River, on the road to Elbląg. A religious cemetery was established on the plot. The area of approx. 20 x 30 m was surrounded by a hedge.
(sztetl.org.pl)
