Przytyk Jewish Cemetery
Cemetery Information
Historical overview
The first records confirming the presence of Jews in Przytyk date to the second half of the 17th century. In 1921, 1,205 Jews lived in the village and accounted for 89.5% of the entire population. On March 9, 1936, a pogrom took place in the village. The Germans murdered most of Przytyk’s Jews in 1942.
The cemetery is located about 600 metres southeast of the market square, on a forested plot of land between Radomska Street and Polna Street. The cemetery’s establishment date is unknown though, based on surviving tombstones, it can be assumed that the cemetery was in use no later than 1770. The cemetery was not only the burial place for those from Przytyk, but from Białobrzegi (until the 1960’s) and Radom (until 1931) as well. At the beginning of the 20th century, the cemetery was enclosed with a brick wall. In 1936, the victims of the pogrom in Przytyk were buried in the cemetery. In 1939, on the anniversary of the pogrom, a plaque commemorating Josek Minakowski, one of the victims of the anti-Semitic event, was officially unveiled. About 2,000 people attended the ceremony, including a delegation of Jews from Radom. The cemetery was in use until 1942 when the Jews of Przytyk were deported. In the fall of 1939, a man named Brojtman, killed by the Germans during a round-up for forced labour, was buried in the cemetery. In the following decades, the cemetery suffered extensive damage. In the 1983 Cemetery Card, under the heading “General State of Preservation,” the following was written:
“There is a date of death on 34 out of approximately 40 matzevot. Other matzevot are damaged or deeply sunk into the ground,” and under the heading “Existing Threats”: “The area is treated as a pasture as it is adjacent to one. There is a lack of interest from the authorities. Mechanical devastation is progressing.”
Currently there are about 30 sandstone steles within the cemetery, most of which date to the 19th century; they are valuable relics of Jewish sepulchral art. In the 1980’s, a fence made of metal spans was built. There is no information on the ownership status of the cemetery. The facility is listed in the Register of Immovable Monuments of the Masovian Voivodeship. The list of preserved matzevot is available at https://cemetery.jewish.org.pl/list/c_21.