Olesko New Jewish Cemetery

The exact period of the cemetery’s establishment is unknown. First, it was marked on Polish maps of Wojskowy Instytut Geograficzny (WIG) of the 1930s. The oldest preserved gravestone relates to the end of the 18th century.

The Jews of Oles’ko are first mentioned in the 16th century. Many Oles’ko Jews perished during the Tatar raid in 1579. In 1608, a synagogue operated. Hanoch-Genneh Meyer (1800–1884) founded the Oles’k Hasidic dynasty in the middle of the 18th century. In 1857, 461 Jews lived in Oles’ko (17.7% of the total population). The Jewish population increased to 773 (23.4% of the total population) in 1890. The Hasidic court of Hanoch-Genekh Vagshal sat in the early 20th century. The peak of the Jewish population was 832 (20,5% of the total population) in 1910. In the interwar period, it stood up 636 (17.4%) in 1921 and 738 in 1935. During the German occupation, in January 1942, 472 Jews were deported to the Belzec death camp. On March 6, 1943, a Jewish labour camp for about 150 people was established. It was liquidated in June 1943.