The community was destroyed during the uprising of 1648, but soon began to regenerate. In the 18th century, it became the second largest Jewish community in the Lublin Voivodeship after Lublin.

In 1913, 4,466 Jews lived in Lubartów, mainly at Lubelska, Klitki I and Klitki II streets. They dealt mainly with trade and crafts, and earlier also leased gardens and farms. The richest families in the city included the Perec family, who were the stagecoach transport tycoons in the 19th century.

In the interwar period, the community managed a synagogue, two cemeteries, a mikvah, a ritual slaughterhouse, and a Talmud-Torah religious school. There were numerous Jewish charitable organizations and political parties, as well as Zionist youth organisations. At the same time, however, a decline in the number of Jews was recorded as a result of economic emigration.

After the outbreak of World War II, Lubartów came under German occupation within the borders of the General Government. In 1939, the Germans plundered Jewish apartments and shops and destroyed the synagogue and cemetery. Some of the local Jews were sent to Ostrów Lubelski, as well as Parczew, Kamionka and Firlej. In 1940, the Germans established a Judenrat and in 1941 they created a ghetto. The boundaries of the ghetto were marked by the following streets: Żabia, 11 Listopada, Browarna, Poprzeczna, and Lubelska; at its peak, 4,500 people were imprisoned there. By 1942, transports of Jews from Lublin, Ciechanów and Slovakia arrived in Lubartów. At the same time, the Germans initiated extermination, sending transports to the German Nazi extermination camp in Bełżec, and then to Sobibór and Majdanek. In the new Jewish cemetery on Cicha street, approx. 300-500 people were shot. The liquidation of the Jewish community by the Germans ended in 1943.

In total, approximately 40 Jews from Lubartów survived the years of German occupation. Some of them hid in houses of Polish neighbours, and the rest took shelter in the surrounding forests. After 1945, most of them left for Palestine, France or the United States. In Tel Aviv, a monument was founded in honor of the murdered brothers and sisters with the image of the Lubartów synagogue.

The Description

The Jewish community in Lubartów operated two cemeteries. The so-called new Jewish cemetery in Lubartów is located at the intersection of 1 Maja and Cicha streets. It was established in 1796. In the interwar period, it was surrounded by a brick fence. There were two ohels on its premises, but there is no information on who was buried in them.

During the German occupation, tombstones from the cemetery were used, among other things, to pave the courtyard of the school where the Wehrmacht was stationed. The Germans carried out executions in the necropolis. After the war, in the 1960s,  trees were planted at the site.

In 1987, on the initiative of regionalists from Lubartów, the cemetery was cleaned up. Some of the surviving tombstones were used to create a lapidarium, located at the end of the main avenue. An area of 0.8 hectares preserves approx. 40 tombstones, the oldest of which dates back to 1848. In February 2008, the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in collaboration with the town authorities fenced the cemetery.

Author of the note: Magda Lucima

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