The cemetery functioned from 1824 and the last burial took place in 1925.

History of the structure

Probably the first Jewish community appeared in Krapkowice already in the Middle Ages. However, it was not very numerous, not very active, and probably left Krapkowice. It was not until the beginning of the 19th century that the Jewish community started to settle in the town more intensively. In the 1920s Krapkowice already had more than 60 inhabitants and this number was systematically growing. They constituted a few percent of the town’s population (the third religious community after Catholics and Evangelicals) and were economically significant residents of the town in the early 20th century. An independent Jewish community was established in the first years of the 19th century. They did not have their own synagogue and for prayers they gathered in a rented room (Betstube), which

according to J. Chrząszcz was located on the market square in Krapkowice, in a tenement house, where a pharmacy was later located. The Jewish cemetery in Krapkowice was established in 1824 outside the town borders, on the Odra river terrace. The Krapkowice Jewish community, which was expanding in 19th century, was systematically enlarging the cemetery grounds. The last known burial took place on 23 April 1925. The Jewish community in Krapkowice ceased to exist in the 1930’s, and in June 1943 the cemetery was taken over by the Gestapo from the Association of Jews in Germany.

Description of the structure

The cemetery, which was the necropolis of the Jewish community in Krapkowice, is located outside the town limits, on the edge of the river terrace, about 400 meters to the south from the railroad bridge on Odra River, near Kolejowa St. It currently occupies an area of approximately 20 acres (land plot number 138). The cemetery was established in 1824 and the last known burial took place in 1925. During World War II and in the years after the war the cemetery was systematically devastated and plundered (e.g. gun bullet marks), however, it was not completely destroyed. The borders of the cemetery are marked by a circumferential wall built of split limestone (marl) reinforced with brick and originally plastered. The crown of the wall was made of flat bricks. The wall has been preserved in its entirety, partially of incomplete height. In the southern part of the necropolis stands a pre-burial house, currently used as an outbuilding by local residents. It is a partially remodelled building of two low stories, with a gable roof covered with tiles. The wall adjoins the building on both sides. On the south and north sides of the pre-burial house (outside and inside the cemetery) entrances are visible, originally topped with an arch, now partially bricked up. It is likely that the entrance to the cemetery led through the pre-burial house. There is no apparent division of the cemetery into sections. The graves are arranged along a W-E line (with a tilt to the N) in several rows. They occupy the eastern part of the cemetery; there are no burials in the western part. The cemetery is neglected, overgrown with trees, mostly self-seeders, and lush vegetation: grass, bushes and ivy. Its boundaries are defined by a separate land plot no. 138. There is no entrance to the cemetery.

A site visit in 2018 found that there may have been at least 100 graves in the cemetery. They are overgrown with shrubs and ivy, and the matzevot (or their fragments and grave frames) often lie in a secondary location, so the exact number of graves is difficult to verify. There are about 80 matzevot and obelisks preserved, in whole or in fragments. Some matzevot are overturned and covered with vegetation. The tombstones, made mainly of sandstone and granite, a few of marble, bear inscriptions in Hebrew and German. On the decoratively topped matzevot the inscriptions are accompanied by symbols characteristic of Judaism (e.g. the Star of David, a bouquet of flowers, a broken candle). Small matzevot, probably connected with the burial of children, are particularly interesting.

The inventory of the necropolis made in 1984 (inventory card) was incomplete. It seems that only the work done in 2012 by students: Alicja Fesser, Marcin Barborek, Mateusz Kaczmarczyk from III TZ, within the framework of the “Virtual Jewish cemetery in Krapkowice” project, gave us more information about this object. Under the care of their teachers, Anna Steinhoff-Okoń and Marcin Sułkowski, they prepared documentation of the Jewish cemetery in Krapkowice. Their work consisted of cataloguing individual tombstones using photographs and placing their coordinates on a map. Most of the inscriptions that were written in German were translated by students as part of their schoolwork. As a result, a virtual Jewish cemetery of Krapkowitz was created. http://www.sztetl.org.pl/pl/pwk/?obj_id=1590

The cemetery is surrounded by a forest to the north, to the south-west by farm buildings, and along the eastern part of the wall there is a recreational road and a trail following a former railroad line.

There is no information board about the Jewish cemetery.

Visitor access: the monument is open to the public.

Author: Krzysztof Spychała, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Opole, 12.06.2018

Bibliography

• Borkowski M., Kirmiel A., Włodarczyk T., Śladami Żydów. Dolny Śląsk, Opolszczyzna, Ziemia Lubuska, Warsaw 2008, p. 122;
• Burchard P., Pamiątki i zabytki kultury żydowskiej w Polsce, Warsaw 1990, p. 196;
• Chrząszcz Johann, Geschichte der Stadt Krappitz in Oberschlesien, Breslau 1932;
• Archive of the Voivodeship Heritage Protection Office in Opole, cemetery card from 1984.
• https://sztetl.org.pl/pl/miejscowosci/k/62-krapkowice/114-cmentarze/17484-cmentarz-zydowski-w-krapkowicach-ul-obuwnikow (18.05.2023)
• http://www.straznicyczasu.pl/viewtopic.php?t=5835 (18.05.2023)
• http://mapy.geoportal.gov.pl/imap/?gpmap=gp0&actions=acShowWgButtonPanel_kraj_ORTO (18.05.2023)
• http://www.zamek.krapkowice.pl/historycy/projekt6.html