Moreover, in 1859, their number had already risen to 609, or 43% of the total population. Around 1885, the Jewish community already had 1,106 members (51.7% of the population), the apogee of its numerical development occurred at the end of the 19th century - in 1897, 1643 Jews lived in Michów (58.8%). The growing economic crisis and lack of prospects led to emigration to big cities and abroad in the following years.

The Description

It is believed that around the middle of the 19th century, the Jewish community already had its own cemetery. It was founded in the southern part of the forest, 1.5 km north of the market square in Michów. Before World War II, the cemetery was fenced with barbed wire. A building on the site was possibly used as a pre-burial house. Its original boundaries have blurred and cannot be reconstructed from material traces. However, cartographic material is helpful. Based on a map from the end of the 19th century, it appears the cemetery plot had a rectangular shape with sides of about 110 metres by about 50 metres. However, a later WIG map from 1938 shows the necropolis was enlarged.

According to the accounts of residents who remember the war times, Jews from the ghetto were buried in the cemetery. At that time, the necropolis was already dilapidated. The Germans ordered the Jews to collect the matzevot. They used them to build pavements in the centre of Michów. In 1988, the pavements were rebuilt because the concrete binding of the slabs had crumbled. When the pavement was ripped up, the gravestone plaques were smashed. It is unclear what happened next with their pieces. It is believed that residents took them to pave roads and yards. The tombstones that survived the war in the cemetery probably suffered a similar fate.

In 2013, Szaweł Berengut founded a monument in the form of a stela with the inscription "Jewish Cemetery". Soon afterwards, local residents began to bring matzevot they had found to the cemetery. Between 2013 and 2020, three sandstone matzevot and one concrete matzevot returned, and two pieces of sandstone matzevot and one fragment of concrete matzeva. The oldest of these dates from 1899, commemorating Yitzhak Menachem, son of Yekutiel; the newest, from 1941, marked the grave of Rachel Lei, daughter of Noach. In 2019, Yaakov Dior funded a plaque in memory of the Duchleiter family.

In the 1980s, this plot of land and neighbouring ones, also covered by forest, were transferred to the State Treasury by the municipality. Maps at the time indicated the cemetery was to be placed under conservation care. Currently, the administrator is the State Forests (Lubartów Forest District).

Właściciel praw autorskich do opisu: Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich POLIN.