Cemetery

The Jüdish cemetery of Toruń (Thorn) is located in the suburb of Jacob, between ul. Antczaka, ul. Pułaskiego and ul. Konopackich. The exact date of its creation is not known. Most likely, it existed already since 1723.

After the Überfall of the fascist German Wehrmacht on Poland, the Nazis intended to destroy the Jüdische necropolis. These plans were not realized. A realization of the destruction took place only in the period of the People's Republic of Poland under the leadership of the communist Polish United Workers' Party in 1975.

Tombstones at the Jüd cemetery at ul. Bracka and Zmienna

About the foundation of the cemetery there is no information. However, it is assumed that burials took place here over a period of about 100 years. A burial register is not handed down.

The Jewish cemetery is not far from the train station, it is marked, there is an archway and a memorial stone.

The Yiddish inscription reads in transcription: "The old Yiddish Beit Olam (Hebrew "cemetery") / Holy is the memory of the deceased" Below it in Lithuanian: "Old Jewish Cemetery"

In the 19th century a Jewish cemetery was opened outside the city, on the edge of the Judenberg. The cemetery, laid out on a rectangular ground plan, had an area of about 0.2 ha. In the former Jewish cemetery there is a fairly well preserved war cemetery for Soviet soldiers.

Today the cemetery is located in the northeastern part of the municipal cemetery, next to the municipal stadium. The old trees of the cemetery have been preserved. (Information from POLIN Virtual Shtetl)

The Jewish cemetery in Dzierzgon (German: Christburg) is located about 1.7 km southwest of the city center, at the intersection of Słoneczna Street with the dirt road, which turns at a right angle about opposite house number 3. After about 170 meters on the left you will find the breakthrough in the cemetery wall between the trees.

Allenstein was the capital of a government district in East Prussia and belonged to the German Reich until 1945. Since the beginning of the 19th century there was a Jewish community here. The building for purification (Hebrew tahara), i.e. washing of corpses and for mourning ceremonies at the Jewish Cemetery was built from 1911 to 1913 according to the plans of the Allenstein-born architect Erich Mendelsohn. After the Second World War, the building served the city of Olsztyn as an archive building for a long time.

The cemetery served the Jewish community of the East Prussian village of Nikolajken. The region belonged to the German Reich until 1945. Mixed inscriptions, in Hebrew and German, are most common. The Hebrew version was often engraved on the front of the gravestone, while the German version is on the back, or the Hebrew version is on the upper part and the German version is on the lower part of the matzeva (gravestones). The cemetery must have been devastated both before and after 1945, but it is still one of the best preserved Jewish cemeteries in the Masuria.

The Jews first used a cemetery at the Molenstraat. This cemetery  was demolished in 1947 and replaced by the cemetery on the Kneedweg. When the Kneedweg was full, the cemetery at the Noord Esmarkerrondweg was put into use. In addition, there is still a cemetery at the Hengelosestraat.

In 1831 a plot of land was purchased and the cemetery was established. Today there are still 26 gravestones in the cemetery. The last burial took place in 1937