Radzymin Jewish Cemetery

The first records of Jews in Radzymin date to the end of the 18th century. In the next century, the city became the seat of a Hasidic dynasty (Radzymin Hasidim). In 1921, 2,209 Jews lived in Radzymin (55% of the entire population), most of whom were killed in 1942 by the Germans in Treblinka.

The cemetery is located about 700 metres southeast of the city centre, on Adama Mickiewicza Street. The first record of its existence is in an inspection record of the Płock diocese in 1775, though the exact date of the cemetery’s establishment is unknown. In 1794, Jews who died during the Kościuszko Uprising were buried in the cemetery. In 1903, Rabbi Szlomo Jehoszua Dawid Guterman, the son of the founder of the Radzymin Hasidic dynasty, was buried in the cemetery. At the beginning of the 20th century, the cemetery covered a rectangular plot of land measuring approximately 1.8 hectares. The area was fenced, and the entrance was located on the eastern side. During the Holocaust, people who died or were killed in the Radzymin Ghetto—including victims of the typhus epidemic—were buried in the cemetery. Until at least the autumn of 1943, the Germans carried out executions in the cemetery. The gradual deterioration of the cemetery began around this time and continued through the following decades. The matzevot were used to build houses and dairies. On October 9, 1964, the Minister of Municipal Economy signed an order to close the cemetery. Around 1970, a park was built in the cemetery area.

Between the 1980’s and 1990’s, thanks to the efforts of Jews from Radzymin living in Israel and France, a concrete sarcophagus-like monument with inscription plates was erected at the burial place of Rabbi Guterman. In 2015-2016, at the initiative of Krzysztof Bielawski, Joseph Deutsch, and Igor Basaj, the tomb was expanded and transformed into an ohel. In 2017, a dozen or so matzevot found during the construction of a supermarket in the former dairy on 13, 3 Maja Street were placed back in the cemetery. The owner of the cemetery is the State Treasury. The cemetery is listed in the Provincial Register of Monuments and it is not listed in the Register of Immovable Monuments.