In 1890, there were 266 Jews living in Skoczów. On 21 December 1892, an independent Jewish community was established in the town. By 1914, the Jewish population had grown to 600 people (15% of the total population). A significant change occurred after the city was incorporated into the Polish state. A large number with pro-German attitudes left the city. In 1931, there were 74 Jews living in Skoczów (1.7% of the total population).

On 27 October 1939, the Germans deported all Jewish men between the ages of 16 and 60 to the forced labour camp in Nisko. The remaining 140 Jews (women, children, and the elderly) were deported to Łazy and partially to Myszków in mid-1940. In the same year, the previously burnt synagogue was pulled down. Those imprisoned in Lazy were killed in the gas chambers of the German Nazi camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The Description

The cemetery of the Jewish religious community in Skoczów was established around 1891. It is located on a rectangular plot of land at 2 Ptasia Street. It was the burial place for Jews living in Skoczów, Ustroń, Wisła, Pruchna, Brenna, Górka, and several other surrounding villages. The oldest surviving tombstone marks the grave of Perla Zabarska, who died on 24 January 1891.

In 1910, the cemetery area was surrounded with a wooden fence. In the front part of the plot, there was a pre-burial house and the watchman’s house – the latter still exists today. A total of ca. 300 people were laid to rest in the cemetery.

During World War II, the site was vandalised. Most of the tombstones were pulled out and moved to the Schancer brothers’ concrete works on Górny Bór. They were sold to stonemasons and used as construction material.

After the war, on the initiative of local Jews, about 50 surviving tombstones were transported back to the cemetery. A new fence was installed around the site. In the 1960s, the devastated pre-burial house was demolished, only the foundations and a fragment of the floor have been preserved.

In the years 1996–1997, the cemetery was renovated with funds from members of the Skoczów Jewish Landsmanschaft and the Eternal Remembrance Foundation. A memorial in the form of a lapidarium was arranged with the surviving tombstones. In its centre there is a monument dedicated to the Jews of Cieszyn Silesia who were murdered by the Germans between 1939 and 1945. It was unveiled in June 1997.

The cemetery is owned by the Jewish Community of Bielsko-Biała. Its grounds are regularly mowed and guarded by a caretaker. In 1990 it was entered in the register of monuments on the basis of decision No. A-652/90 (WKZ Bielsko-Biala).

Author of the note: Sławomir Pastuszka

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