Wachock Jewish Cemetery

The first record of the presence of Jews in Wąchock comes from 1787. The independent synagogal supervision was established in 1911. Ten years later, 468 Jews lived in the town. The majority of them were murdered in the death camp Treblinka in October 1942.

The cemetery is located around 1km east of the market square, on the eastern side of Krzemienica Street. The cemetery was established around 1908, although other sources date it to 1910 or 1911. Previously, Jews from Wąchock buried the dead in Iłża. There is no detailed information about the pre-war history of the building. It is known that before 1939, the area was fenced. It is likely that the last funerals took place in the spring of 1945, following several attacks on the survivors of the holocaust.

On June 22nd 1964, the Minister of Municipal Economy, in response to the resolution of the Presidium of the Municipal National Council in Wąchock on October 29th 1962, issued a decision to close the cemetery. The documentation attached to the decision states that the cemetery covered a plot of 0.3 hectares, and that the last funeral took place in 1943.
The cemetery was devastated. In the post-war years, it was used as a pasture and landfill site. In 1987, there were around 40 tombstones and fragments of the wall remaining within the cemetery.

In 2006, at the initiative of Rafael Faferman, in cooperation with the Poland Jewish Cemetery Restoration Project and the city authorities, the area of 0.16 hectares (plots no. 997/1, 997/2) was fenced with a stone wall, a gate was built, and cleaning works were carried out. At the entrance, a monument dedicated to the Jewish community of Wąchock and plaques commemorating the Feferman family and the renovation of the cemetery were unveiled.

The owner of the cemetery is the State Treasury. The facility is listed in the Register of Immovable Monuments of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (entry No. 1058, June 20, 1990).