Mokobody Jewish Cemetery

According to records, Jews have lived in Mokobody since the 18th century. 394 Jews lived in the village in 1861, and 486 in 1884. As a result of emigration and of World War I, the Jewish population decreased and, by 1921, there were only 290 Jewish inhabitants in the village. Most of Mokobody’s Jews were murdered in 1942 by the Germans in Treblinka. The cemetery is located about 400 metres south-east of the village centre, behind the premises at 28-34 Stodolna Street. The cemetery covers an irregularly shaped plot of land with an area of approximately 0.45 hectares. The cemetery’s establishment date is unknown. It was certainly in existence by the first half of the 19th century, as evidenced by income records from funerals in the documents of the Office of the Synagogue Fund in Mokobody from 1845-1847. There is no further information about the history of the cemetery.

The cemetery has suffered significant damage. On December 19, 1963, the Ministry of Municipal Economy issued a decision to close the cemetery. In the application, the Presidium of the District National Council in Mokobody attached the following description of the cemetery: “The area of the cemetery is 4,540 square meters and is taken care of by the Presidium of the District National Council in Mokobody. The cemetery has been closed since 1944, it is neglected and unfenced. There are no brick graves.

There are few traces of the graves. The local people take sand from the cemetery.” In 1989, the employees of the Voivodship Office, during a visit to the cemetery, found bones through excavations which had risen aboveground as a result of locals stealing the sand. There was a sports field in the cemetery. The head of the Commune buried the bones and scattered fragments of tombstones to prohibit the theft of sand and erected a plaque with the following inscription: “The Jewish cemetery in Mokobody. Closed for burial purposes, legally protected.” All above-ground traces of the cemetery are invisible. The area is unfenced, unmarked, and covered with grass. There is a sloping sandy hill.