Staryy Dobrotvir Jewish Cemetery

The exact period of the cemetery’s establishment is unknown. First, it appears on Austro-Hungarian maps of the 1880s. Later it was marked on Wojskowy Instytut Geograficzny (WIG) maps of 1939.

Jews are first mentioned in the second half of the 16th century. In 1564, a miller and a butcher were Jews. By the 1820s, the Jewish community was established, the Jews maintained a synagogue and a cemetery. In the19th century, Yosef-Yitzhok Katz and Yitzhok-Ayzik Ravar served as rabbis of Staryy Dobrotvir. In 1880, the Jewish population stood up 379 (13% of the total population), and it slightly grew to 383 (11.6% of the total population) by 1900. WWI negatively influenced the number of the Jewish population, and it dropped to 216 Jews (7% of the total population) by 1921. In the 1920-30s, the local branches of the different Zionist organizations were active. In autumn 1942, the Jewish population of Staryy Dobrotvir was executed.