Zloczew Jewish Cemetery

Złoczew was granted town rights in 1605, and Jewish settlement began to develop at the end of the 17th century. The Jewish community was established prior to 1812. In 1897, the number of Jews in the town numbered 1,501 and constituted 65% of the total population. In 1939, there were 2,067 Jews in Złoczew, constituting 39% of the total population. In September 1939, the Germans killed about 200 people (including 142 Jews). About 1,400 Jews were transported to the Zduńska Wola Ghetto, and from there to the Łódź Ghetto. The rest (about 400 people) were gathered in a ghetto established in Złoczew. After the liquidation of the ghetto in August 1942, the Jews were transported to the extermination camp in Chełmno nad Nerem.

The cemetery is located approximately 150 metres east of the intersection of Cegielniana Street and Błaszkowska Street, and approximately 1 km northwest of the town centre. The cemetery’s date of establishment is unknown, though some sources indicate that it was founded in 1530, which makes it one of the oldest preserved Jewish cemeteries in Poland. The last burials took place there during World War II. 142 people murdered by the Germans in 1939 are buried in the cemetery. During the war, the cemetery was seriously damaged, and it continued to fall into further disrepair after 1945. The matzevot were used, for instance, to harden the road on Błaszkowska Street. Only two tombstones from the 20th century have survived, one of which is damaged (an inscription plate was torn out), and the other of which was destroyed between 2005 and 2011 (the terrazzo tombstone of the Jachimek family). The area is covered with forest and the boundaries of the cemetery are unclear.