In 1353, a Jewish woman named Rachel was recorded in Oława (German: Ohlau) – she settled there with her children, siblings, and domestic servants. Municipal files from Wrocław mention the name of another Jewish woman from Oława, Golda, who settled in Wrocław in 1357. The same date is given by Marcus Brann as the beginning of the history of Jews in Oława. A pogrom against the Jewish population was likely carried out in Oława in 1363. The same year, Jews were expelled from the town.

Jewish people returned to Oława and its environs in the 17th century. In 1623, they leased of the local mint. In 1663, the village of Baumgarten (now part of Oława) became a refuge for Moravian Jews fleeing the wartime unrest. In the 17th century, a Jew called Hirschel Joseph was the leaseholder of vodka sale in the Duchy of Wohlau (Wołów) and in the town of Oława. An important role in the development of Jewish settlement in Oława was played by Prince Jakub Ludwig Sobieski – son of King John III Sobieski, who stayed in Oława with his court in the years 1691–1734 and was a well-known protector of Jews.

The Jewish community in Oława was established in 1817, and its first statute was adopted in 1850. It was initially incorporated into the Second Synagogue District based in Brzeg, but in 1863 it became the seat of the newly founded Oława Synagogue District. It included the entire Oława County, including the towns of Oława and Wiązów. The local Jewish community was rather small – the Jewish population of Oława reached its peak size in 1861 with 210 people.

The Jews of Oława never built their own synagogue – services were held in the house of prayer organised in a rented room at Piastenplatz, in the annexe of the Piastowski Castle, opposite the military barracks and next to the church.  They used the facility until 1933. In 1938, during the Kristallnacht pogrom, the house of prayer and two Jewish shops were vandalised.

Some names of Oława Jews can be found on lists of people deported to the transit camps for Lower Silesian Jews in Krzeszów and Rybna, as well as on deportation lists to Auschwitz, Sobibór, Theresienstadt, and ghettos in Izbica and Łódź, Kaunas and Riga.

In 1816, Samuel Steinmann, later the owner of the knightly estate of Baumgarten, acquired a plot of land for burial purposes from the widow of Strecker by means of a barter agreement. The property was located on the outskirts of the city, at Rosenhainer Chaussee.  The Jewish cemetery in Oława was formally opened in 1818. At the time, it was situated ca. 1.5 kilometres south of the city centre, outside the built-up area.

On 25 January 1833, Samuel Steinmann donated the cemetery to the Jewish Community in Oława, at the time headed by distiller Martin (Meinster) Laband and Moritz Korpulus from Biala (Zülz). A pre-burial house was erected on the cemetery grounds.

The Jewish cemetery survived World War II in a fairly good condition, but it started to gradually fall into decline in the post-war period. Not being an active burial site, it was not looked after by Jewish organisations, which led to its significant devastation. In 1952, the Presidium of the District National Council in Oława estimated the damages at the cemetery at 50%. It was not properly secured, and the fence and tombstones were devastated. Located by the cemetery were the gravedigger's residential quarters together with the pre-burial house (eight rooms in total) and other buildings formerly belonging to the Jewish community.  After 1945, the pre-burial house was adapted for residential purposes.

Description

In 1977, the cemetery was entered in the register of monuments – decision number A/3995/385/W. The necropolis is located at Cicha Street, on plot no. 16 with an area of 0.1235 ha. It is now owned by the Jewish Community of Wrocław. Ca. 130 gravestones in various shapes have survived, albeit most of them damaged. The oldest surviving monument marked the grave of Bernhard (Chaim Dov, son of Arie) Breslauer, who died on 28 September 1850. The most recent gravestone is that of Ida Doctor, who died on 26 February 1921. Among the people laid to rest in the cemetery were members of the Pringsheim family, which made great contributions to the history of Oława. Burial records from the Jewish cemetery in Oława are stored in the archives of the Jewish Museum in Frankfurt am Main (Ohlau, Schlesien – Friedhofsregister 1875-1933, ref. no. PSR A252).

In the 21st century, the cemetery has been cleaned up several times. In 2003, maintenance works were carried out by students from the Tadeusz Kościuszko Secondary School Complex No. 1 in Oława. In 2006–2007, the necropolis was looked after by students from the Unii Europejskiej Lower Secondary School No. 13 in Wrocław as part of the project “Traces of the Past – Pupils Adopt Monuments,” carried out by the Centre for European Education. Around the same period, the site was surrounded with a fence financed by the Municipality of Oława.

In the years 2013–2014, preparatory work was carried out as part of the project to restore the Jewish cemetery in Oława, which was to be carried out by the regional branch of the Association of Expellees and Refugees from Thuringia in cooperation with the Oława Town Hall and the Jewish Community in Wrocław. The cemetery was tidied up, volunteer trees and rubbish were removed, and the fence was repaired. The Jewish Community in Wrocław took inventory of the necropolis for the purposes of drawing up documentation for the restoration project. The plans included putting up an ornamental gate, erecting a new cemetery fence (partly openwork and partly made of brick), and embedding tombstones and two commemorative plaques in the new wall. The site was to be thoroughly tidied up and CCTV and a lighting system were to be installed. However, further works were put on hold due to lack of funding.

Author of the note: Tamara Włodarczyk

Bibliography

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