History

A separate Jewish Community in Mińsk Mazowiecki was established around 1822. Its centre was located at Karczewska Street (currently Piłsudskiego Street), similarly as the synagogue and the bathhouse. Apart from Mińsk Mazowiecki, it covered: Cegłów, Siennica, Latowicz, Iwowe and Jeruzal. The Jews mainly inhabited the areas located to the south and south-west of the Old Market (Dąbrowszczaków Square) and the Sendomierz Market (Kilińskiego Square), on both sides of the Srebrna river, up to Mostowa and Górna Streets (Kazikowskiego Street). In 1827 the population of Mińsk amounted to 770 persons, out of which 260 were Jews. Thirty-four years later the ratio amounted to 692 members of the Jewish community in 1338 residents, while in 1897 the followers of the Judaist religion represented 3445 persons out of 6016 residents of Mińsk. The local Jews mostly dealt with trade and craft and were owners of a large number of real property in the town. In 1937 Mińsk Mazowiecki was inhabited by around 5000 Jews within the total number of 16500 residents.

The first, old Jewish cemetery was established in 1820 and functioned until around 1870. A school complex was built in this area after World War II. The second, new cemetery at the current Dąbrówki Street was established after 1870 and functioned until 1964.

Description

The necropolis occupies the area of around 1.05 ha and has a shape similar to a rectangle, with approximate dimensions of 150 x 60 m. The area is surrounded with a meshed fence and thorny bushes, while the entrance is located on the north-west side.

The total of several hundred matzevah have survived in the cemetery, positioned in rows on the north-east and south-west axis. The majority of graves are traditional in form: these are vertical boards, matzevah, with a semi-circular arch at the top. The inscriptions on the matzevah were made mostly in Hebrew. Only a couple of them include Polish or Yiddish inscriptions. A division into separate quarters for men and women was observed for a long time of the necropolis existence. This principle was given up in the inter-war period. The south-west part includes collective graves of the Jews murdered by the Germans in 1942 and 1943. However, these graves remain unmarked.

On 21 August 1967, on the 25th anniversary of the beginning of liquidation of the Mińsk Mazowiecki ghetto, a monument commemorating the extermination of the Jewish community was unveiled (with an inscription in Polish and Hebrew): “This monument is dedicated to the memory of the Jewish population of Mińsk Mazowiecki and its surroundings, consisting of 5500 men, women and children murdered between 1939 and 1945 by the Nazi perpetrators of genocide. In honour of the memory of the martyrs.”

The oldest identified tombstone originates from 1878 and commemorates Icchak, son of Mosze. A grave of tsadik Jakow of Mińsk Mazowiecki, son of Szymon of Zawichost, who died on 23 Adar 5662 (2 March 1902), is situated next to the monument of the victims of the Holocaust. Further in the graveyard there is a surviving matzevah of his mother, Dwora Miriam, who died in 1883, daughter of Szlomo Chaim of Kiejdany, descendant of Mordechaj of Lachowicze, Aszer of Stolin, Aharon of Karlin, Szlomo of Karlin and Chacham Cwi of Amsterdam.

In 2007, at the efforts of persons active in the Jewish Community in Warsaw, the cemetery underwent a detailed inventorying. In the early 21st century, before 2013, it was cleaned up twice.

The feature is open to the public.

Author of the note Jerzy Szałygin, National Institute of Cultural Heritage, Regional Branch in Warsaw 12-02-2018

Bibliography

• Burchard P., Pamiątki i zabytki kultury żydowskiej w Polsce. Warsaw 1990, p. 72.
• Kłos L., Mniejszości narodowe i religijne w Mińsku Mazowieckim (do 1939 r.), [in:] 585 lat Mińska Mazowieckiego, Kuligowski Janusz (ed.), Mińsk Mazowiecki 2006.
• Kuligowski J., Z dziejów osadnictwa żydowskiego w Mińsku Mazowieckim, [in:] W 50 rocznicę zagłady mińskich Żydów, supplement to MIM, 1992.
• Record sheet of the cemetery, the so-called white sheet: Mińsk Mazowiecki, prepared in 1998.
• Mińsk Mazowiecki: https://sztetl.org.pl/pl/miejscowosci/m/583-minsk-mazowiecki
• Mińsk Mazowiecki: http://www.kirkuty.xip.pl/minskmaz.htm
• Mińsk Mazowiecki – Jewish Cemetery: http://trobal.pulawy.pl/2017/10/28/minsk-mazowiecki-cmentarz-zydowski/