Wolomin Jewish Cemetery

Cemetery Information

Country
Poland
Region
Masovian Voivodeship
District
Wołomin
Settlement
Wołomin
Site address
26, Władyslawa Andersa Street.
GPS coordinates
52.334203, 21.252822
Perimeter length
172 metres
Is the cemetery demolished
yes
Type and height of existing fence
No fence
Preservation condition
Demolished Jewish cemetery that has not been built over
General site condition
The demolished Jewish cemetery of Wołomin is situated in the south-eastern part of the town. The territory is a wooded area, overgrown with bushes, tall grass and rare trees. The adjacent lands are private residential properties. No traces of the cemetery have been preserved, nor have any tombstones. The area is not marked as a former Jewish cemetery.
Number of existing gravestones
0
Date of oldest tombstone
N/A
Date of newest tombstone
N/A
Urgency of erecting a fence
High
Land ownership
Municipality
Preserved construction on site
No
Drone surveys
No

Historical overview

Jewish settlement in Wołomin began toward the end of the 19th century. In 1921 there were 3,079 Jewish residents (49% of the total population), the majority of whom were killed in 1942 by the Germans in Treblinka. Between 1945 and 1946 a Jewish Committee with 53 registered residents was active in Wołomin. The cemetery is located approximately 1.2 km southeast of the city centre, on the eastern side of Generała Władysława Andersa Street—formerly Ślepa Street. The cemetery occupied a rectangular plot on a small rise, with its longer side adjacent to Ślepa Street, and covering an area of 0.55 hectares (ha). There is no information about its date of establishment, though it was presumably established toward the end of the 19th century. The cemetery was in active use until World War II when it most likely was destroyed. It subsequently continued to degrade in the following decades. Tombstones were routinely taken from the cemetery, and bones were sold to medical students. In 1957, there were scattered human skulls and tombstones discovered in the area.

On October 9th, 1964, the Minister for Local Economy—in accordance with the decree of the Local Council Presidium of Wołomin—signed a by-law to close the cemetery. The accompanying documentation stated the following: “Jewish cemetery in Wołomin at Ślepa Street, acreage 0.55 ha, defunct from 1942, not fenced, destroyed and unmaintained.” In the following years, the local government removed the remaining tombstones as well as the fence. All aboveground signs of the cemetery were gradually erased, and its borders are now unclear. The area is overgrown and crossed with dirt roads leading to neighbouring plots of land. The cemetery is also used as an illegal dumping ground for litter and debris. There is no form of a commemoration, and its ownership is unknown. The cemetery is not part of either the local and voivodeship register of historical landmarks or the register of immovable monuments.