Wadowice Jewish Cemetery

Jews began to settle in Wadowice in the second half of the 19th century. Before that, Jews lived in the surrounding villages. In 1921, 1,437 Jews (accounting for 20.9% of the total population) lived in the town, most of whom were killed by the Germans in Bełżec and Auschwitz-Birkenau between 1942 and 1943. The cemetery is located about 1.5 km north of the town centre, on 52 Wojska Polskiego Street, and covers an irregular and rectangular-shaped plot of land with an approximate area of 0.68 hectares. The cemetery was established in 1882 and initially covered an area of 5,866 square metres. In 1894, the Jewish community purchased an adjacent plot measuring 941 square metres. The cemetery was fenced, and a funeral house was built at the entrance. During World War II, a German entrepreneur purchased the cemetery. At that time, the funeral house was partially damaged. After 1945, burials continued to take place in the cemetery, and it was taken care of by the Jewish Religious Congregation in Kraków. The cemetery is enclosed with a wall with a gatehouse. On the west side, there is a funeral house with a caretaker’s apartment – a one-floor, L-shaped building, covered with a hipped roof, and displaying a plaque above the entrance with the cemetery’s establishment date and a plaque for its 1992-1993 renovations. Within the cemetery, there are currently about 600 tombstones in various conditions, including tombstones placed on the graves of Holocaust victims and a monument on the mass grave of 92 people murdered in 1943 in Maków Podhalański who were later exhumed and reburied in the cemetery in 1964. The last funeral took place in 1990. Periodic cleaning works are carried out in the cemetery and the key to the gate is available from the cemetery caretaker. The owner of the cemetery is the Jewish Community in Bielsko-Biała. The facility is listed in the Municipal and Provincial Register of Monuments and in the Register of Immovable Monuments of the Małopolskie Voivodeship. Jews began to settle in Wadowice in the second half of the 19th century. Before that, Jews lived in the surrounding villages. In 1921, 1,437 Jews (accounting for 20.9% of the total population) lived in the town, most of whom were killed by the Germans in Bełżec and Auschwitz-Birkenau between 1942 and 1943.

The cemetery is located about 1.5 km north of the town centre, on 52 Wojska Polskiego Street, and covers an irregular and rectangular-shaped plot of land with an approximate area of 0.68 hectares. The cemetery was established in 1882 and initially covered an area of 5,866 square metres. In 1894, the Jewish community purchased an adjacent plot measuring 941 square metres. The cemetery was fenced, and a funeral house was built at the entrance. During World War II, a German entrepreneur purchased the cemetery. At that time, the funeral house was partially damaged. After 1945, burials continued to take place in the cemetery, and it was taken care of by the Jewish Religious Congregation in Kraków. The cemetery is enclosed with a wall with a gatehouse. On the west side, there is a funeral house with a caretaker’s apartment – a one-floor, L-shaped building, covered with a hipped roof, and displaying a plaque above the entrance with the cemetery’s establishment date and a plaque for its 1992-1993 renovations. Within the cemetery, there are currently about 600 tombstones in various conditions, including tombstones placed on the graves of Holocaust victims and a monument on the mass grave of 92 people murdered in 1943 in Maków Podhalański who were later exhumed and reburied in the cemetery in 1964. The last funeral took place in 1990. Periodic cleaning works are carried out in the cemetery and the key to the gate is available from the cemetery caretaker. The owner of the cemetery is the Jewish Community in Bielsko-Biała. The facility is listed in the Municipal and Provincial Register of Monuments and in the Register of Immovable Monuments of the Małopolskie Voivodeship.