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Tarlow Jewish Cemetery

Cemetery Information

Country
Poland
Region
Swietokrzyskie Voivodeship
District
Opatów
Settlement
Tarłów
Site address
The cemetery is located adjacent to 36, Ostrowiecka Street.
GPS coordinates
51.002022, 21.706989
Perimeter length
593 metres
Is the cemetery demolished
no
Type and height of existing fence
Et side there is a metal fence about 1.2m high, on the house side there is a metal mesh fence. There is no fence on the river side.
Preservation condition
Fenced and protected Jewish cemetery
General site condition
The cemetery area is fenced from the street. On the side of the adjacent plots, the fence is shared with the private properties neighbouring it. The owners of houses at No.34 & 36 have gates leading to the cemetery, where hens graze. The area is overgrown.
Number of existing gravestones
41. There are 26 fragments of matzevot in this area of the cemetery. Most of them are located at the entrance to the cemetery. One matzevah is on the road leading to the river (east), the other almost whole matzevah is located about 100m north of the entrance. In addition, about 15 matzevot and their fragments are located in the property adjacent to the cemetery (No.36 Ożarowska Street). They are visible through the cemetery fence.
Date of oldest tombstone
N/A
Date of newest tombstone
N/A
Urgency of erecting a fence
Low
Land ownership
Other
Preserved construction on site
There is a Holocaust memorial. The inscription reads: “In memory of the noble Jews of Tarłowo, brutally murdered during the war, whose graves will never be known, as well as those whose graves were desecrated here - the victims of heartless fascist murderers. Let the descendants of Tarłów Jews respect their memory by observing the Torah and its commandments and spreading peace in the world. The cemetery was restored thanks to the efforts of North American Jews from Tarłów and its vicinity.
Drone surveys
Yes

Historical overview

Tombstones have been taken for building use and there was litter found at the site.

The cemetery of Tarlów was founded in 1609. The last known burial took place in 1942. During WWII, the Nazis destroyed the 0.7 hectare cemetery.
Tarłów was founded by Andrzej Tarła as a private town on the land of the village of Czekarzewice which, since the 14th century, was a royal station – the king’s staging point on the route from Krakow to Lublin. It was granted the Magdeburg town status in 1550 by Sigmund II Augustus, who also exempted the inhabitants from paying taxes for 20 years. In 1589, there were 76 houses in the town. The first Jews appeared in the town immediately after it was founded. In 1609, they owned a wooden synagogue and a cemetery. The privilege granted by Jan Oleśnicki in 1665 confirms that there was also a funeral house at the cemetery. In 1787, the Jewish community comprised 49.3% of the total population. During World War I, the Russians burned down the synagogue and most of the Jewish quarter. In the interwar period, Jews still constituted about 50% of the total population. In 1937, the community numbered 1,800 people. During World War II, in 1941, a ghetto was established in the town, in which approximately 10,000 Jews—from the town and its surrounding areas, as well as the Starachowice district—were confined. About 8,000 people were deported to Treblinka in 1942.

The Jewish cemetery is located northwest of the market square and covers an area of approximately 0.75 hectares. In the interwar period, there was a brick fence surrounding the synagogue in need of repair. During World War II, the cemetery was used for carrying out executions. After the war, the remains of the tombstones were used by locals for construction purposes. In 2011, at the initiative of Jan Curyła and the descendants of the former Jewish community, the cemetery was cleaned up and enclosed with a metal fence. A monument dedicated to the memory of Tarłów Jews was unveiled at that time. Tombstones recovered from the town were gathered around the monument. During field research in 2019, 32 mostly broken, sandstone matzevot from 1787 to 1896 were identified. From the east, a ditch and a cemetery road, mentioned in the 1655 privilege, have also survived. In the area of the cemetery, three tombstone bases without inscriptions were also discovered. They are located by their original burial places.

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