The cemetery in Biskupice near Byczyna functioned from 1865 and the last burial took place in 1936. Max Skop, a merchant from Byczyna, was buried at that time.

History of the structure

In 1788, 15 Jews lived in Byczyna. In the following decades the number of Jews in the town was increasing and in the middle of the 19th century it reached 105 people. They constituted a few percent of the town’s population. Even at the beginning of the 1930s, they were significant residents of the town. However, according to the census conducted in 1939, there were no Jewish residents in the town. The Jews of Byczyna had their own house of prayer (now 24 Floriańska Street) erected in 1882. It was a small building known as the “little synagogue”. Services in this synagogue were held by a rabbi from Kępno. Originally the local Jews buried their dead on the cemetery in Krasków. As the number of Jews in Byczyna increased, it was necessary to have a Jewish cemetery. In 1865, the cemetery was established on a field bought from the inhabitants of Biskupice village. It was located on a vast elevation south of Byczyna. The boundaries of the cemetery were clearly defined by a fence - a brick wall. As late as 1984 the cemetery and the fence were in good condition. In the following years the degradation of the cemetery area progressed: the fence wall collapsed, the graves were covered with bushes, and the matzevah were devastated. In the years 2003-2009, cleaning works were carried out by the young people of the Lower Secondary, Secondary and Vocational School Complex in Byczyna. The cemetery has been unattended since 2010.

Description of the structure

The Biskupice Jewish cemetery is located about 2 km south of the town of Byczyna, on a moraine hill east of Biskupice and about 150 m east of the Kluczbork-Kępno railroad line and the Kluczbork-Poznań road. It currently occupies an area of 0.12 ha (land plot no. 21).

The cemetery was originally surrounded by a brick wall, with an entrance from the northern side, from the direction of Byczyna. As late as 1984 the cemetery and the fence were in good condition. In the following years the degradation of the cemetery area progressed: the fence wall collapsed, the graves were covered with bushes, and the matzevah were devastated. Of the brick fence, the foundation section survived around it, and from the eastern and northern sides the wall has been preserved to about half of its original height. The rest of the fence (bricks) lies along the foundation. On the eastern and northern side the cemetery is surrounded by a line of black locust trees, on the other sides - by single trees. Despite the damage and neglect, the layout of this necropolis is clear. The area consists of two parts: the eastern part without burials, overgrown with grass and single shrubs, and the western part with burials, tightly overgrown with lilac bushes. Currently the cemetery is accessible through the fields. The original dirt road led from Byczyna south to the cemetery: the entrance was on the northern side.

About 50 burials were confirmed in the cemetery in 1984. About 30 matzevah and grave frames have survived, either in whole (a few) or in fragments. Most of the preserved matzevah are made of sandstone. Tombstone epigraphy evokes the memory of the large Jewish community living in Byczyna at the turn of 19th and 20th century. The inscriptions in Hebrew and German are visible on the matzevah. Amalia Altman (1886-1899), Stefani Matzdorf (1857-1901), Jacob Altman (1876-1915), Jonas Matzdorf (1857-1917), Aurelin Heymann (1847-1919), Max Heymann (1858-1929) and the Minna couple (+1903), the Schweitzers, were buried in this cemetery.

Visitor access: the monument is open to the public.

Author: Krzysztof Spychała, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Opole, 02-05-2018

Bibliography

• Borkowski M., Kirmiel A., Włodarczyk T., Śladami Żydów. Dolny Śląsk, Opolszczyzna, Ziemia Lubuska, Warsaw 2008, pp. 110 -111 (as Byczyna);
• Burchard P., Pamiątki i zabytki kultury żydowskiej w Polsce, Warsaw 1990, p. 195;
• A. Arczyńska, Żydzi w powiecie kluczborskim “Kurier Kluczborski” 1999, no. 4/107,
• Archive of the Voivodeship Heritage Protection Office in Opole, cemetery card, no. 3/84