Cmentarz żydowski w Wieliczce

Jewish cemetery in Wieliczka - Jewish necropolis on the southwestern outskirts of Wieliczka in the immediate vicinity of the so-called Grabówki ecological site. The place of martyrology of Jews from Wieliczka and Malopolska.

Historically the area belonged to Klasno Jewish settlement within the boundaries of the village of Siercza. The cemetery was established probably in the first half of 16th century but its official borders were established in 18th century and the oldest matzevot are from this period. The area of the cemetery covers about 1.8 ha. In total there are about fifty tombstones preserved, made of limestone and sandstone with Hebrew inscriptions and traditional tombstone ornaments. The necropolis was also used to bury Jews from Podgórze near Krakow and neighboring Wieliczka. In 1939-1942 the cemetery in Grabówki was the site of mass executions and burials of Jews murdered by the German occupiers in Wieliczka and its vicinity. This fact is commemorated by a granite monument in memory of over a thousand Wieliczka Jews murdered here and in the town, erected near the eastern border of the cemetery in the place of a mass grave of the murdered. Right next to the monument the best preserved matzevot were placed in a row. The cemetery was active most probably until summer 1942 when the last stage of extermination of Jews living in Wieliczka and concentrated in the town for displacement began. It was then that the Germans carried out a planned devastation of the necropolis.

Presently, the whole cemetery, including the martyrology memorial, is in a bad, with each year worse condition. Most of matzevot are overturned, overgrown with moss and soaked with humidity, some are broken, some have painted inscriptions, including a swastika. The surroundings of the monument of martyrdom of the Wieliczka Jews, which is at the same time the burial place of about 1000 victims, has not been maintained for many years, overgrown with bushes and grass, and most probably in the winter of 2010/2011 the metal elements were additionally stolen and the fence was broken. In connection with the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the deportation and murder of the Jews of Wieliczka and Małopolska, in the summer of 2012, the cemetery grounds and the surroundings of the monument were thoroughly cleaned and renovated. On August 27th, 2012, a prayer for the dead and murdered was held in the cemetery, led by Rabbi Eliezer Gurary. The prayer was led by Rabbi Eliezer Gurary and attended by Prof. Uri Shmueli, one of the last survivors of the displacement.