The new owners were eager to welcome Jewish settlers to their estate, hoping that they would boost the local economy, and granted them equal rights with the Christian population.

In the second half of the 16th century, the Jewish community was already well-organised and became an independent kehilla. It maintained a synagogue and had its own burial place. The exact date of the establishment of the cemetery is not known, but it was probably at the turn of the 17th century. The necropolis was located on a gentle hill slope in the north-eastern part of Nowy Żmigród, about a kilometre from the Market Square, by the road towards Jasło (Jasielska Street). It was used by the local population and by Jews from neighbouring localities, such as Dębowiec, Gorlice, Jasło, or Osiek.

Before World War II, the cemetery was surrounded with a stone and concrete wall (it has partially survived to the present day). An embankment and a stream marked its south-eastern border. A wooden pre-burial house stood at the entrance. The necropolis was probably enlarged several times and currently occupies a rectangular plot of ca. 1.73 hectare.

In the years 1941–1942, the Jewish cemetery was used as an execution site by the Germans. The victims were buried on the spot. The bodies of several dozen people shot in the town in 1942 were also buried in the necropolis. In 1943, three Romani people were shot and buried at the site. World War II saw gradual devastation of the cemetery, which continued after the occupation. Ca. 600 tombstones have survived on the premises to this day. Most of them are made of sandstone, although there are also some concrete matzevot. The oldest stone dates back to 1742. The last burial at the site was held in 1955. It was the funeral of Pinkas Wohlmut – the only Jew who lived in Żmigród after the war.

Nowadays, the legal owner of the cemetery is the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland. The site was entered into the register of monuments under the number A-228, dated 23 November 1990. In 2008, tutelage of the site was taken by the Society of Nowy Żmigród Lovers (Polish: Towarzystwo Miłośników Nowego Żmigrodu). It organises regular cleaning works at the cemetery. It has also placed information boards at the entrance. In 2012, a monument was erected on the mass grave from 1942. Maintenance works at the cemetery are often carried out with the help of volunteers, for example firemen from the State Fire Service in Jasło or high school students from Bet Shemesh in Israel. A dozen or so matzevot found in various spots around the town have been returned to the cemetery.

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