The presence of Jews in the town was first recorded in the second half of the 15th century (1478), when they established a local religious community. In the mid-16th century, after the incorporation of Mazovia into the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Błonie was granted the de non tolerandis Judaeis privilege, which remained in force until the reform of Margrave Aleksander Wielopolski in 1862. In the second half of the 18th century, the ban on Jewish settlement in Błonie ceased to be closely observed. The presence of 13 Jews in the town was recorded in 1771. This number rose to 20 in 1808 (they constituted 2.5% of the total population). Jewish merchants and stall-keepers from neighbouring towns would visit Błonie during fairs held in the town every two years.

In the 1860s, Jews officially gained the right to settle in Błonie and purchase property in the town. This caused a rapid growth in the number of Jewish residents. In the second half of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century, Błonie became a large centre of the Jewish population. While in 1857 there were only 88 Jews in the town (8% of the total population), this number increased to as many as 1,027 in 1897 (35%). An independent religious community (with its own cemetery) was probably established in 1885. Most local Jews made a living from trade, including in grain and seed corn. Jewish craftsmen dealt mainly with tailoring and shoemaking. The synagogue in Błonie was built at the junction of the today’s Nowakowskiego and Piłsudskiego streets. In 1912, the old wooden temple was replaced with a new brick synagogue (demolished in 1952).

Jewish children from Błonie would initially receive their education in traditional cheders. A religious Talmud-Torah school was opened in the town ca. 1870. During World War I, a Jewish school was established in Błonie (administered by Mizrachi since 1921), later incorporated into the local public school. Jewish girls could attend the Orthodox Beit Yaakov school associated with the Agudath. The year 1903 saw the establishment of the Zionist “Hatikvah” organisation in Błonie (it ran a library opened in 1917). There were also youth literature and drama clubs in the town.

In reborn Poland, the Jews of Błonie constituted around a quarter of the total population, with their share rising to 30% in 1939 (2,600 people). The structure of the Jewish community and its primary sources of income did not change in the interwar period. The two strongest political forces in the town were the Zionists and Orthodox Jews. Błonie boasted cells of the Zionist Organisation, Poale Zion, Mizrachi, Brit HaZohar and the Orthodox Agudath. Jews also formed part of the municipal government. They won two seats on the Municipal Council in the last election held before the war (1939).

Błonie was seized by the Wehrmacht in September 1939. The Germans immediately started to murder, persecute, and plunder the local Jewish community. They also instated a forced labour regime in the town. The local Judenrat (Jewish Council) was established in the autumn of 1939. The Jewish population grew in size after the arrival of 900 refugees from Łódź, Kowel (Kovel), Iłów, Lubień, Konstantynów, and Aleksandrów Kujawski. They received aid from the Jewish Social Self-Help Committee. In November 1940, the Germans established a ghetto in the town. It had a population of 2,100 people. It was liquidated in February of the following year, when all Jews from Błonie were transported to Warsaw; they shared the fate of the prisoners of the Warsaw Ghetto – most of them died in the Nazi German death camp of Treblinka.

The History

The Jewish cemetery in Błonie was probably founded in the 1880s. In the summer of 1940, it became the burial site of around a dozen Polish soldiers of Mosaic faith killed in the September Campaign (their remains had been exhumed from field graves). During World War II, the cemetery was desecrated by the Germans, who tore out some of the matzevot and used them as building material in construction works in the town.

The site continued to fall into decline in the post-war decades, though in the 1960s there were still several dozen standing matzevot in the cemetery. In 1989, the area of the Jewish cemetery in Błonie together with all preserved tombstones was entered in the register of monuments. In 2011, there were 35 preserved tombstones or fragments at the site (only several could be qualified as fully preserved and standing at the proper burial place). Most were traditional matzevot in the form of vertical slabs, with semi-circular or rectangular tops, made mainly of sandstone. The vast majority of the objects found at the site were broken fragments of matzevot, semi-cylindrical stones placed behind matzevot for stabilisation, and other structural elements of the tombs. In spite of the damage, it was still possible to make out the original layout of the site, with the matzevot arranged in rows and facing west. Two tombstones of local rabbis have survived near the southern border of the cemetery: Yehuda, son of Joseph (died 1902) and (probably) Yaakov (died 1925). All epitaphs on the recovered tombstones were written in Hebrew. The tops of the matzevot were decorated with reliefs typical of Jewish sepulchral art.

The cemetery was vandalised in mid-April 2013. All standing matzevot were smashed to bits with a heavy tool. After the incident, all fragments of destroyed tombstones were taken away from the site in consultation with the Provincial Monument Conservator. Three years later, the European Initiative for Jewish Cemeteries and the Jewish Religious Community in Warsaw erected a new fence around the cemetery.

The Description

The Jewish cemetery in Błonie is located on the northern outskirts of the town, at today’s Polna Street. The necropolis occupies a trapezoidal plot with an area of 0.3 hectare. The original burial area remains visible. On the southern and western side, the boundary is marked by a preserved shallow trench and two posts of a destroyed gate, on the eastern side – by a road, and on the northern side – by a gentle depression. Only four fully preserved matzevot are present at the site, all of them tumbled over. They rectangular slabs with semi-circular tops are made of sandstone and bear Hebrew inscriptions. There are also some fragments of destroyed matzevot and concrete gravestones at the cemetery. One full semi-cylindrical supporting stone has been preserved. The necropolis is fenced with wire mesh.

Description copyright owner: POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews