Pinczow Old Jewish Cemetery

Cemetery Information

Country
Poland
Region
Swietokrzyskie Voivodeship
District
Pińczów
Settlement
Pińczów
Site address
21, Republiki Pińczowskiej Street. The demolished cemetery was located on the plot of land between Mirowska, Slabska and Republiki Pińczowskiej streets.
GPS coordinates
50.516512, 20.531599
Perimeter length
338 metres
Is the cemetery demolished
yes
Type and height of existing fence
No fence
Preservation condition
Demolished and overbuilt Jewish cemetery
General site condition
The demolished cemetery in is an urban area. It has been overbuilt with private properties in residential and commercial use. No traces of the cemetery have been preserved, nor have any tombstones.
Number of existing gravestones
No tombstones have been preserved on the site. Matzevot (mostly fragments) from Pińczów cemeteries were transfered to Pińczów synagogue and placed in different parts of the synagogue area. Some fragments of tombstones are embedded in the interior side of the synagogue walls. Some fragments were placed in two memorial lapidariums and there are also two piles of very small fragments at the backyard of the synagogue. In total, there are about 1,000 fragments of matzevot in the wall and around the synagogue. It is not known whether the fragments of matzevot come from the old or the new cemetery.
Date of oldest tombstone
1624 (fragment)
Date of newest tombstone
1907 (fragment, likely from the New Vemetery)
Urgency of erecting a fence
Fence is not needed
Land ownership
Private
Preserved construction on site
Drone surveys
No

Historical overview

The cemetery was likely established in the first half of the 17th century, approximately 550m south-east of the market square. It was rectangular and comprised an area of 0.8 hectares. It was fenced with a massive stone wall. During World War I, in 1915, the Russian army built a defense station in the cemetery, using the cemetery wall and many tombstones.

During World War II, the cemetery was completely destroyed, the wall was pulled down and the tombstones were used for construction purposes. After 1950, residential barracks were erected in part of the area. In the 1960s, the area was completely redeveloped into industrial facilities. Currently, there are no traces of the cemetery. After 1980, fragments of tombstones were successively recovered and placed in the lapidarium next to the synagogue. There are several hundred fragments of tombstones made from local limestone, with the oldest tombstone identified so far dating from 1608. Despite the fragmentation, the tombstone forms can be identified, there are mainly traditional stelae, but also chest-shaped forms with a setting and chest-shaped tombstones with a stele. Many of the 17th-century tombstones were created by skilled masons in the Renaissance style.