Zakroczym Jewish Cemetery
Cemetery Information
Historical overview
The Zakroczym Jewish cemetery is located about 500 metres northwest of the market square, on a hill at Parowa Okólna Street. The cemetery was probably established around 1820, around the same time as the formation of the local Jewish community (synagogue supervision from 1822). It was mentioned in the records of the Zakroczym Synagogue Fund for the years 1943-1946, in which “the rental fee for the land where the cemetery is located” was listed. During World War II, the cemetery fell into disrepair. The cemetery was damaged in September 1939 when the Polish Army established a defensive point in the area. In the following years, the local population contributed to the destruction of the cemetery by stealing matzevot for construction purposes and to use as grinding wheels. Part of the plot was used as an arable field (now it serves as a strawberry plantation) and a dirt road. A residential building was built at the edge of the cemetery. An electrical line was built on the side which borders Parowa Okólna Street. All the tombstones have been removed and the boundaries of the cemetery have become imperceptible. Bones from dug-up graves periodically appear. There is no form of commemoration. The owner of the cemetery is a private person. The cemetery is not listed in the Municipal and Provincial Register of Monuments or in the Register of Immovable Monuments of the Mazowieckie Province.
The first records of Jews in Zakroczym date to the 15th century, though the Jewish community only significantly developed after the third partition of Poland. Around 1820, an independent Jewish community was established in the city. 415 Jews lived in the town in 1827 (30.4% of the total population), 3,046 in 1893 (60.2%), and 1,865 in 1921 (38%). During World War II, the Germans deported Jews from Zakroczym to the camp in Pomiechówek and to the ghetto in Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki. Most of them died in the following years, including in KL Auschwitz-Birkenau. After the war, several dozen Jews returned to the town.