Sieniawa Jewish Cemetery

Sieniawa was founded as a private town before 1670. The official town rights were granted in 1676. Jews were given land to the north of the market square, on the so-called Przedmieście Tarnogrodzkie, where community facilities and residential houses were built. In the second half of the 19th century, Yechezkel Shraga Halberstam, a tzadik, resided in Sieniawa, which resulted in a significant influx of Jewish people. In 1880, among the 3,213 inhabitants, there were 2,278 Jews (71%). In the 1930s, there were 2,500 inhabitants, including about 2,000 Jews (80%).

The cemetery was established approximately 550m to the north-west of the market square, on flat ground. The detailed phases of the enlargement process are unknown. It finally came to possess an area of 1.3 hectares shaped as an irregular polygon. It was partially fenced with a wall. In the southern part of the cemetery, there was a brick funeral house. During World War II, the wall and the building were destroyed, and some tombstones were taken away. Executions and burials in unmarked mass graves took place at the cemetery. In 1958, the area of the cemetery was divided into several plots. After the removal of the tombstones, the southern part of the cemetery was partially built up and partially dedicated to agricultural purposes. The northern strip (along the drainage ditch) was transformed into a road leading to the fields. In 1978, a new ohel with the original matzeva was built over the grave of Tzadik Halberstam. In the 1990s, the cemetery was fenced anew.

About 800 tombstones have survived in the cemetery. There are mainly stelae and stelae with a horizontal block. There is one chest-shaped tombstone with two stelae. The oldest tombstone with a legible date is from 1686, the newest from 1941. The tombstones are arranged in regular rows in the north-south direction and face east. They are mainly made of limestone and sandstone, with the ones that were built later being made of concrete and terrazzo. The 19th-century stelae are richly decorated with motifs with folk art characteristics. The area is covered with self-seeded young trees and shrubs