The Old Jewish Cemetery ( pl, Stary Cmentarz Żydowski w Lublinie), in

Lublin Lublin is the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the center of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin is the largest Polish city east of t ...

, Poland, is located on a hill between Kalinowszczyzna and Sienna Streets. The cemetery overlooks the Old Town and is entirely surrounded by a high, seventeenth-century wall. It is located on the site of a former medieval fortress, and was once surrounded by numerous backwaters. The cemetery was probably founded in 1541, although some sources give a much earlier date. The first written mention of the cemetery dates from 1555, when a privilege was issued to

Polish Jews The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lo ...

permitting burial in the area. Many distinguished representatives of the Lublin Jewish community are buried there. Many of them have monumental and richly decorated matzevot

headstone A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a stele or marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. It is traditional for burials in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religions, among others. In most cases, it has the deceased's name, da ...

s, but there are also matzevot without ornaments, which are evidence of modesty. In 1939 the cemetery probably held up to 3,000 matzevot. During the

German occupation of Poland German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

in 1939 and the start of the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

, many of the matzevot were demolished or were used for street paving. The matzevot of several significant figures, however, remain. In the 1980s, the Association for the Preservation of the Jewish Heritage in Lublin (''Towarzystwo Opieki nad Pamiątkami Kultury Żydowskiej'') began to put the cemetery in order and to make a detailed inventory. Between 1988 and 1991 several antisemitic acts of vandalism took place, as a result of which 40 further matzevot (''Macewy'') were destroyed. Currently, the Old Jewish Cemetery in Lublin provides some of the last surviving physical evidence of the centuries-old presence of Jews in the city.

Notable interments

Solomon Luria Solomon Luria (1510 – November 7, 1573) ( he, שלמה לוריא) was one of the great Ashkenazic ''poskim'' (decisors of Jewish law) and teachers of his time. He is known for his work of Halakha, ''Yam Shel Shlomo'', and his Talmudic commenta ...

Yaakov Yitzchak of Lublin Yaakov Yitzchak HaLevi Horowitz ( he, יעקב יצחק הלוי הורוביץ), known as "the Seer of Lublin" (), ''ha-Chozeh MiLublin''; (c. 1745 - August 15, 1815) was a Hasidic rebbe from Poland. "Rabbi Yaacov Yitzchak, the Chozeh of Lublin, ...

Jacob Pollak Rabbi Jacob Pollak (other common spelling Yaakov Pollack), son of Rabbi Joseph, was the founder of the Polish method of halakhic and Talmudic study known as the Pilpul. Biography He was born about 1460 or 1470 in Poland, and died at Lublin in ...

Shalom Shachna Shalom Shachna ( 1510 – 1558) was a rabbi and Talmudist, and Rosh yeshiva of several great Acharonim including Moses Isserles, who was also his son-in-law. Biography Shachna was a pupil of Jacob Pollak, founder of the method of Talmudic study ...

References

* http://www.um.lublin.eu/en/index.php?t=200&id=47592 * http://cemetery.jewish.org.pl/list/c_55 * http://www.sztetl.org.pl/en/article/lublin/12,cemeteries/1730,the-old-jewish-cemetery-kalinowszczyzna-sienna-streets-/ * http://teatrnn.pl/leksykon/taxonomy/term/5521

External links

* http://jewishphotolibrary.smugmug.com/EUROPE/EUROPEnortheast/POLAND/POLANDLublinOldJewishCemetery/ * http://www.kirkuty-lublin.pl/ * http://lublin.jewish.org.pl/history.html {{Jews and Judaism in Poland Jewish cemeteries in Poland Jews and Judaism in Lublin Holocaust locations in Poland Cemetery vandalism and desecration