Ostrow Mazowiecka Old Jewish Cemetery

The old Jewish cemetery in Ostrów Mazowiecka is located in the southern part of the town, between Broniewskiego Street, Fryczego Street, and Targowa Street. The cemetery’s establishment date is unknown. It was probably established no later than in the third decade of the 18th century, as evidenced by an entry in the protocol of the visit to the Catholic parish in Ostrów from 1781. No further information is available on the history of the cemetery.

During World War II, the cemetery fell into disrepair. In the period of the Polish People’s Republic, a market was organized in the cemetery, the area was hardened, and stalls were erected. The building of the Horticultural and Apicultural Cooperative was erected in the northern part of the plot. All above-ground traces of the cemetery have vanished. The National Heritage Institute and the Jewish Community in Warsaw are in talks with city authorities regarding the commemoration of the cemetery. The cemetery is listed in the Municipal and Provincial Register of Monuments.

Confirmed records of Jewish settlement in Ostrów Mazowiecka date to the 18th century. From 1843, Jehoszua, son of Szlomo Jehuda Lejb from Łęczna, was the rabbi in Ostrów Mazowiecka. The Rabbis Gerszon Henoch Leiner and Bencijon Rabinowicz were also connected to the town. In 1921, 6,812 Jews lived in Ostrów Mazowiecka (50% of the population). In September 1939, the Germans killed about 300 Jews. On November 11, 1939, they shot between 300 and 800 people, and forced the remaining Jews to leave the town. After the war, there was a Jewish Committee in Ostrów Mazowiecka, in which 23 people registered in 1947.