Olecko Jewish Cemetery
Cemetery Information
Country
Poland
Region
Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship
District
Olecko
Settlement
Olecko
Site address
The cemetery is located at the intersection of Armii Krajowej Street and Ludowa Street, next to the apartment block at 1A Ludowa Street.
GPS coordinates
54.0418, 22.49881
Perimeter length
137 metres
Is the cemetery demolished
yes
Type and height of existing fence
No fence.
Preservation condition
Demolished Jewish cemetery that has not been built over
General site condition
Destroyed but not built-up cemetery. Currently, the necropolis is a square and a park at the intersection of two streets. There are alleys across the square. According to sztetl.org.pl, sections of municipal infrastructure (telecommunications lines, sewage pipes, etc.) also run through the cemetery. The area is clean and well-kept. However, there is no information about the former cemetery.
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
Municipality
Preserved construction on site
No
Drone surveys
No
Historical overview
The Jewish cemetery (marked on the map prepared by Paul Mex from 1960/61) was located near the hospital, at the intersection of Graundenzerstrasse (today Słowiańska Street) and Goldaperstrasse (previously Seedrankerstrasse, today also Gołdapska and Armii Krajowej Streets). The cemetery was small, 0.1 ha, today it is basically a fragment of Ludowa Street and a part of a mound with bushes. When construction began there in the 1960s, the remains were probably quite nonchalant, but for this reason the cemetery still exists. There is no trace of the wall surrounding the cemetery, but going further, you come to the carpentry shop to which it adjoins the cemetery. The owner of the carpentry shop and the residential building nearby was Jakielski (no. 32 Goldaperstrasse, later a corset shop, today the building undergoing reconstruction). Next to it there were two warehouses belonging to Landlichen Wirtschaftsverein, the manager was Pogodda. A house owned by Podbielski was a bit further away. It was (and still is) a magnificent villa, which was called by the pre-war residents: Villa des Geldverleihers (No. 32, today it is the Environmental House of Mutual Aid, it is not known what was there during World War II). Opposite the villa there was a car repair shop (no. 23 Goldaperstrasse), after the war there was only rubble, then nothing for a long time, and now a new tenement house is built on a part of the plot). A little further (No. 22 Goldaperstrasse) was the International Blue Cross (Christlichen Blaukreuzergemeinschaft), which was an organization that prevented and fought against alcohol-related problems. At No. 15 (or 17) Goldaperstrasse there was a shop of the Isidor and Salomon Czerninski family (they traded in sweets and tobacco products). The Wessolowscy lived at No. 11 Goldaperstresse, and the forge owned by Przyborowski was located at No. 6 Goldaperstrasse. Lazarette Strasse (today Składowa) departed from the smithy, probably with a passage to the synagogue (after the war, there was a bathhouse on this street, whether it was related to the Jewish community, it is not known).
(Source: https://iolecko.com/krotkie-historie-spolecznosc-zydowska-w-marggrabowej-treuburgu/ )
There is no detailed information about its history, the cemetery was probably established after 1840.
After 1945, the cemetery was surrounded by a wall and was in a state of neglect. In the early 1970s, the authorities of Olecko ordered its elimination. The wall was pulled down and the last tombstones were removed. All traces of the cemetery on the ground were blurred. Its place was taken by a square and partly by Ludowa Street.
As a result of the destruction, the boundaries of the cemetery are unreadable. No form of commemoration of any kind.
(K. Bielawski, cmentarze-zydowskie.pl)
