Mordy Jewish Cemetery

Jewish settlement in Mordy began to develop in the second half of the 17th century. In 1921, 1,746 Jews lived in the town (53.4% of the entire population), most of whom were murdered in 1942 by the Germans in Treblinka. The cemetery is located about 700 metres from the city centre, at 11 Listopada Street, on a flat area, and covers a triangular plot with an area of 1.38 hectares. There is a water reservoir in the central part of the cemetery. It is possible that the cemetery was established at the end of the 18th century, but the exact date is unknown. Based on the preserved tombstones, it can be assumed that the cemetery was in use no later than 1828. There is no further information about the history of the cemetery. The last burials possibly took place in May 1945, after the murder of some Holocaust survivors.

On December 19, 1963, the Minister of Municipal Economy—at the request of the Presidium of the Municipal National Council in Mordy dated July 31, 1962—signed an order to close the cemetery. The cemetery was seriously damaged and, according to the testimonies of local inhabitants, many tombstones were stolen after the war. Some sandstone matzevot were used as grinding discs. According to unconfirmed information, the tombstones were also used to build a railway ramp in Mordy.

In around the 1980’s, a metal mesh fence on concrete poles surrounded the cemetery, which deteriorated over time. Within the cemetery, there are several dozen matzevot, most of which are made of granite stones, and date to the first half of the 19th century. The cemetery is overgrown with dense vegetation. In 2020, volunteers from the Cultural Heritage Foundation, with the support of the local government and residents, carried out cleaning work in the cemetery. A partial list of the preserved matzevot is available at http://cmentarza-zydowskie.pl/mordy.htm.