Proszowice Jewish Cemetery

The cemetery is located about 1.6 km southwest of the market square, about 50 metres southeast of the roundabout at national road 776, which is an extension of Krakowska Street. The cemetery is located on a small hill, within plot no. 1639, shaped like a trapezoid, and covers an area of 0.3646 hectares (ha). There is no information about the cemetery’s establishment date, though it was probably established in the 19th century. In the 1930s, the cemetery was fenced with a wall. During World War II, the victims of the Holocaust were buried in the cemetery. The Germans used some matzevot to harden the banks of the Szreniawa River. The cemetery was further destroyed in the following decades. Following the resolution of the Presidium of the Municipal National Council in Proszowice dated November 19, 1970, on January 17, 1971, the Minister of Municipal Economy signed an order to close the cemetery. According to a report by the City of Krakow, before 1983, the cemetery was fenced, and the work was financed by an unnamed citizen of the United States. At the end of the 1980s, at the initiative of Zygmunt Just (Juskiewicz) from Mannheim, restoration work was carried out in the cemetery. There is a dozen or so sandstone stelae attached to a concrete wall in the cemetery, as well as a monument dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust, unveiled in 2012, in the form of a granite stele. A part of the cemetery with an area of about 0.13 ha is enclosed with a fence made of iron spans embedded between concrete pillars. There are information boards at the entrance. The key to the gate is kept by the Town and Commune Office of Proszowice. The owner of the cemetery is the Jewish Community in Krakow. The facility is listed in the Municipal and Provincial Register of Monuments.

Jewish settlement in Proszowice began to develop in the 19th century. In 1921, 1,307 Jews lived in the town (39.6% of the total population). By 1942, following an influx of refugees, the number of Jews increased to about 2,500, most of whom were killed by the Germans in 1942 in the Bełżec extermination camp. In 1945, 65 Jews returned to Proszowice. They soon left the town due to attacks.