Paslek Jewish Cemetery

From 1842, there was a synagogue in the suburbs in Pasłęk. The new synagogue was erected in 1878 on the then Steinthorstraße (now Krasickiego Street - corner of Dąbrowskiego Street). In 1817, the Jews bought from the baker Zeroch for 30 thalers a piece of land for a cemetery on a hill located in the suburbs, the land was further expanded in 1864 (later Krossenerstraße, now Wojska Polskiego Street - the cemetery is located at the back of the house at number 15) . The synagogue and the cemetery were destroyed during the "Kristallnacht". At the site of the burnt temple, there is now a residential and commercial building at 19 Krasickiego Street. Despite the devastation in the 1930s and immediately after the war, the cemetery has survived to the present day. Since 1990, it has been in the register of monuments (under the number 137/90). Thanks to the efforts of the city authorities, its area is well-kept, partially surrounded by a wall and a metal mesh. Currently, the area of ​​the cemetery is approximately 0.3 ha. In 1996, students of the Secondary School in Pasłęk made the first attempt to describe the state of preservation of the cemetery and to make an inventory of the preserved tombstones. Thanks to the study, we know that there are currently over 100 graves in the form of tombs, earth graves, posts, bases and pedestals as well as fragments of broken matzevot, of which only thirty sandstone and a few marble ones have survived. Some of them have been overturned, some are partially preserved, and a few matzevot had probably been dug up earlier and rearranged, as evidenced by the fact that the obverse, i.e. the Hebrew inscriptions, is facing the other way than in all the others. Some of the graves show traces of excavation. There are inscriptions on the matzevot in both Hebrew (obverse) and German (reverse) as well as dates written according to Hebrew and Christian calendars. They are also characterized by rich ornamentation: stylized frames, floral motifs, a wreath, rose, feather and geometric elements, winged hourglass, broken tree, Star of David. The tombstones are oriented in a way characteristic of Jewish culture - they were placed in the heads of the graves, on the west side. The tombstones face east in almost all cases. In 2008, as part of the "To Bring Memory Back" educational program implemented by the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland, students of Junior High School No. 1 in Pasłęk took care of the cemetery, planning to disseminate knowledge about the history and culture of Jews among students and inhabitants of the city and commune of Pasłęk. (“Żydowskie domy modlitwy oraz cmentarze na Warmii i Mazurach – stan obecny” book by Seweryn Szczepański, 2017; doi.org/10.26774/rzz.165)