Staszow New Jewish Cemetery

The new Jewish cemetery in Staszów was established in 1819 at the exit road towards Rytwiany. It was founded after the old cemetery, which was located too close to the town, was closed for sanitary reasons. The first burials took place in 1825. The cemetery was destroyed during and after World War II. The tombstones were used during the war for paving streets and courtyards, and after the war for construction purposes. The cemetery was cleaned up in the early 1990s at the initiative of Jacek Goldfarb, a Holocaust survivor, who provided funds for carrying out the necessary work. The cemetery area was cleaned up and fenced. There was also a lapidarium with embedded fragments of matzevot. In the area of approximately 1.4 hectares, matzevot recovered from the town, including approximately 150 tombstones found in the former Gestapo headquarters at Kościelna Street, were brought back to the cemetery. On the 50th anniversary of the liquidation of the ghetto, a monument dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust was erected on the mass grave from 1942. In 2002, the bodies of two people found during the renovation of a house in Kościelna were buried in the cemetery. A monument resembling a matzevah was erected over their grave. Since 1990, the cemetery has been included in the Provincial Register of Monuments. In 2018, the procedure for entering the facility into the Provincial Register of Monuments was initiated.

Staszów was granted town rights in 1525. Jews were first recorded in the town as early as 1578. However, following accusations of ritual murder (blood libel), the emerging Jewish community was expelled from the town in 1610. Jews only began to resettle in Staszów at the end of the 17th century. In 1718, the owner of the town, Elżbieta Szaniawska, issued a privilege which allowed Jews to settle, trade freely, and establish their synagogue and cemetery. This privilege was confirmed in 1772. In 1765, 607 Jews lived in the town. In 1865, the community grew to 3,947 people (64.2% of the total population). The town was a major centre of Hasidism and two yeshivas operated there in the interwar period. During World War II, 8,000–9,000 Jews were gathered in the ghetto. In November 1942, most of them were transported to the death camp in Bełżec, and some were shot on the spot. The rest was taken to Treblinka between 1942 and 1943.