In 1861 there were already 128 Jews living here (5.4% of the total population). At that time there was a Jewish community with its own school. The house of prayer was initially organised in a private flat, but a free-standing synagogue was erected in 1864.

The turn of the 20th century saw increased emigration of Upper Silesian Jews to major urban centres within Germany. This trend resulted in the gradual disappearance of the Jewish community in Pokój. The town had 139 Jewish residents in 1871, 123 in 1880, 86 in 1890, 55 in 1900, 58 in 1910, 44 in 1925, and 42 in 1932.

Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 significantly changed the situation of the Jewish population throughout Germany. During the so-called Kristallnacht of 9/10 November 1938, local nazis organised pogroms against the Jewish, where the synagogue was set on fire and numerous Jewish properties were vandalised. All the Jews were then deported in an unknown direction. Perhaps they were deported to Polish territory. Their fate is unknown.

Some secondary sources give the year 1780 as the date of founding the Jewish cemetery in Pokój, but these claims are most definitely incorrect. It was not until the second half of the 1850s that the local Jewish community – which had up to that point been burying their dead in the 18th-century cemetery in Miejsce – made the first efforts to establish a separate necropolis. On 16 December 1867, the community purchased a plot of land (with an area of half morgen) located north-east of the village centre from the estate of the Gomolczyk family. Despite initial problems and protests from neighbouring landowners, the President of the Opole District finally granted the community permission to establish its own cemetery on 8 February 1869.

The Description

The cemetery was established on a rectangular plot of 1,450 square metres, located at the edge of the forest, west of the road to Jagienna and the current Mikołaja Reja Street. The grounds were surrounded with a wooden fence, and now defunct pre-burial house was erected in the south-western part of the cemetery.

The cemetery in Pokój was also used by Jews living in the surrounding villages and colonies, including Brynica, Dąbrówka Dolna, Domaradz, Domaradzka Kużnia, Falkowice, Kaniów, Krogulna, Krzywa Góra, Kupa, Lubnów, Murów, Nowe Budkowice, Nowe Siołkowice, Okoły, Popielów, Stare Budkowice, Stare Siołkowice, or Zagwiździe.

There are no preserved death certificates or burial records of the Jewish population of Pokój from the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is therefore impossible to determine the identity of the first person buried in the cemetery. The oldest gravestone preserved until the present day marks the grave of Bertha Waldheim, who died on 26 December 1872 at the age of 77. It is estimated that ca. 130 people were laid to rest in the necropolis, the last being Heinrich Bernstein, who died on 26 October 1938 at the age of 50.

Between November 1938 and June 1940, several tombstones (or all of them, according to another account) were overturned. The fence remained intact. The damage was repaired at the expense of several local families. On 4 July 1939, the necropolis became property of the Association of Jews in Germany, represented by the local office in Gliwice. On 10 June 1943, the cemetery was seized by the Gestapo and placed under the administration of the district tax office in Kluczbork. It survived in good condition until 1945.

After World War II, the cemetery was left unattended and gradually deteriorated, partially destroyed by human hand. There were cases of grave robbing. In 1969, the municipal authorities decided to liquidate the cemetery. In the following years, the pre-burial house was demolished, and tombstones were removed from the part of the cemetery near the entrance, which mostly held graves from the first decades of the 20th century.

At present, the condition of the cemetery is relatively good, undoubtedly thanks to the cleaning works carried out between 2005 and 2010. The grounds are surrounded with a low wooden fence and hold around 120 gravestones and grave frames in varying states of preservation. Some of the gravestones have been displaced and do not mark the actual burial sites. The cemetery is listed in the register of monuments of Opolskie Province (no. A-227/89 of 31.03.1977).

Author of the note: Sławomir Pastuszka

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