Wolbrom Jewish Cemetery

Records of Jewish residents in Wolbrom date to the 17th century. In 1921 there were 4,276 Jewish residents (59% of the total population), the majority of whom were killed in 1942 by Germans in Bełżec. The cemetery is located approximately 1 km southeast of the town square, on 18 Skalska Street. The cemetery was most likely founded in the 19th century as its location is noted in the 1843 Topographical Map of the Kingdom of Poland. Rebbe Icchak Menachem Mendl ha-Lewi Rotenberg was buried in the cemetery in 1874 and an ohel was erected over his tombstone. In 1911 his son Alter Meir Dawid ha-Lewi Rotenberg was likely buried there as well. In September 1942, the Germans used the woods behind the cemetery as execution grounds where they killed several hundred Jews. In the following months Jews who were captured in the city and the surrounding areas were killed there. On December 5th, 1942, the military police shot around 20 people, and, in 1943, a man with the surname Rodański was killed.

During the War, the cemetery began to fall into disrepair. During the time of the Polish People’s Republic, a school and a residential home were built on the eastern side of the cemetery. Between 1978 and 1988 thanks to the initiative of Rabbi Chaim Wolhendler, with the help of the Wolbrom City & County Hall and the Nissenbaum Family Foundation, a part of the cemetery was fenced, and a memorial was erected in honour of the victims of the Holocaust. In 2009, the local government began to build a gymnasium beside the school. However, after initially removing the tombstones, the project was halted and eventually discontinued in 2011. The construction company overseeing the project sued the county citing projected loss of profit. The boundaries of the cemetery are largely unclear. The part of the cemetery which is fenced includes several partially destroyed tombstones, the Holocaust memorial, and a monument stylised as a matzevah with the following inscription: “Here lie the ashes of my brothers Jechiel and Israel, killed by Nazis during World War 2. Chaba Norbert”. The cemetery is part of the local and voivodeship register of historical landmarks.