Pitomača Jewish Cemetery

Pitomača is a municipality in the Virovitica–Podravina County. From the 1-3 centuries AD, there was a Roman settlement in the area of the present-day town. During the Middle Ages, the settlement on that site was named Kopačevac, which was first mentioned in 1501. During the Turkish occupation in the 16th century, the settlement was ruined. After the Ottoman expulsion in 1684, Pitomača was presumably re-established. On maps dating back to this time, the town was called “Dorf Pitomača.” In 1829, there were 297 households in Pitomača, the inhabitants Croatians and Serbs. In the 19th century, the economic development of the region rapidly increased. Many settlers, including Hungarians, Jews, and Germans established trade and handicraft industries. In 1910, the town had 4936 people. Pitomača was a vital commercial and industrial center on the Drava River, the most developed economic sectors were trade, manufacturing and agriculture.

The Jewish population of Pitomača was considerably small; in the 1930s and early 1940s, only twenty Jews lived in the town. They belonged to the Jewish community in Bjelovar. In 1942, the Jews of Pitomača were deported to the concentration camp Jasenovac where they perished. The Jewish cemetery of Pitomača was built in the 19th century, but was sold in 1945. No monuments remain in the cemetery, they disappeared without a trace. Professor Ivan Ceresnjes has suggested that, since the Catholic cemetery was on the other side of the street, there is a possibility that the stones from the former Jewish cemetery had been stolen and reused there.