Przedborz Jewish Cemetery

Przedbórz was granted town rights before 1370. The first records of Jewish settlement there date back to the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries. In 1921, 3,749 Jews lived in the town, which constituted 63.7% of the total population. At the turn of 1937–1938, 7,000 people lived in the town, 4,500 of them were Jews. In January 1940, the Germans established a ghetto in Przedbórz, where they gathered around 4,600 Jews. The ghetto was liquidated on October 9, 1942. All the Jews were forced to walk to Radomsko, where they were transported, together with the local Jews, to the extermination camp at Treblinka. After the war, nine Jews returned to the town, but at the turn of 1945 and 1946, they were murdered by Poles.

The Jewish cemetery in Przedbórz is located at 3 Ogrodowa Street, about 300 meters west of the market square. The first mention of the cemetery comes from the 1636 Privilege of King Władysław IV, but it is not known whether it concerns the necropolis at Ogrodowa Street. However, the dating of the oldest preserved matzevot demonstrates that the cemetery certainly functioned in the middle of the 18th century. Here are just a few of whom were buried: Jeszaja Weltfreid (died 1831), a son of Mojżesz and student of Rabbi Dawid from Lelów and the Seer from Lublin, Abraham Mojsze Weltfreid (died 1918), a student of his father Emanuel Weltfreid and Chaim Halbersztam from Sącz. There was also a funeral house and a caretaker’s house in the former necropolis.

During World War II, the cemetery was severely devastated. By order of the Germans, some matzevot were broken into pieces and used to harden squares and streets. The process of destruction was continued after 1945. Almost all tombstones, a fence, and the cemetery buildings were destroyed. Most of the area is covered with forest. Only single tombstones and the bases of broken matzevot have survived. In the cemetery, featured are some of the oldest preserved matzevot in the entire Łódź Voivodeship, including the tombstone of Tojwa (died August 24, 1754), daughter of Arie Lejb.

In 2011, about 90 complete tombstones and numerous fragments of broken matzevot from 1910-1935 were excavated from the square at the Upper-Secondary School Complex. In 2015, thanks to the efforts of Hersz Mejlech Huss in cooperation with the Jewish Community of Łódź and the authorities of the town of Przedbórz, a partial fence was built. Recently, in the southern part of the cemetery, a concrete foundation with a commemorative plaque was erected in the alleged burial place of Tzadik Jeszaja Weltfried and Tzadik Awraham Moshe Weltfried.