Alternate names: Grodzisk Mazowiecki [Pol], Grodzhisk [Yid], Grodzisk-Mazovetskiy, Grodzhisk Mazovyets, Grodzisk, Russian: Гродзиск-Мазовецки. גרודזיסק מזובייצקי-Hebrew. 52°07' N, 20°38' E, 18 miles WSW of Warszawa, 6 miles S of Błonie. 1900 Jewish population: 2,154.
JOWBR burial list: Jewish Cemetery.
Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego (1880-1902), II, p. 838: "Grodzisk" #2. A town in central Poland with 26,881 inhabitants in 2006 in Warszawa Voivodeship [1975 and 1998] but since 1999 in the Masovian Voivodeship and capital of Grodzisk Mazowiecki County.The town was the center of the Hasidic Grodzhisk dynasty. We RememberJewish Grodzisk Mazowiecki! The Jewish Cemetery at Grodzisk Mazowiecki website. satellite photo. cemetery photo. [May 2009]
Jewish settlement in Grodzisk Mazowiecki dates from the 16th century. Aleksander Kaczorowski, Grodzisk Mazowiecki journalist and essayist, wrote: "In the mid-nineteenth century, the town had a few thousand inhabitants, nearly 80% of them Jewish. To this day, residents of the neighboring village of Grodzisk called this Jewish town and grodziszc residents - Jews ". Father Mikołaj Bojanek in his study entitled "The Church and Parish in Grodzisk in 1750-1769 gave the Jews permission to build the first synagogue. In 1765, 157 Jews lived there and at the end of the 19th century, 1,681 out of 1,928. In 1860, they built a large synagogue and in 1901 the beit midrash. In the 19th century, tzaddik Elimelech moved there, part of the famous family of the Kozienice Magid. After occupation of the city by the German army in 1939, Jews were subjected to painful repression. In December 1940, the ghetto was created in which local Jews and those displaced from other locations including Warthegau were imprisoned. Liquidation of the ghetto took place on February 13, 1941. its inhabitants were deported to Warsaw, from where they later went to Treblinka. [May 2009]
CEMETERY:
The Jewish cemetery was established in the second half of the 18th century on land between the roads leading to Błonia and Rokitna, when the latter highway was named Jewish Street. The site is adjacent to the railway station. Consent was given by the pastor, Fr. Jan Klemensa Mokronoskiego to build "modestly, without a pump and przepychu". The original entrance was from the west, probably at the gate of a small preburial house. In 1845, at the cost of "541 silver rubles and 83 kopiejek", a wooden fence surrounded the 104 m x 72-74 m cemetery. At the end of the 19th century, the area was expanded with am approximately 70 m parcel on the north side. During the same period, a brick wall was built and the gate moved to the north. In 1929 and 1934, subsequent purchases of land to enlarge the cemetery were made. Finally, the cemetery was 310 meters with its narrower width, the northern end, about 62 meters. Until the creation of the cemetery, they buried their dead in Warsaw. Historian Majer Balaban writing in 1929 said: "In order to examine the history of Warsaw's Jewish community before the foundation of the Jewish cemetery in Prague, we have carefully scrutinize Grodzisk or epitaphs in Sochaczew." During World War I, cemetery was part of devastation. The previously mentioned the priest, Nicholas Bojanek, wrote that "iIn 1922, restoration included repairing fences." During World War II, the Nazis destroyed the cemetery. Tombstones were used for construction. They demolished the brick wall. Until the liquidation of the Grodzisk Mazowiecki ghetto at the the cemetery destruction took place. On September 30, 1944 three people were shot in the cemetery, at least one of whom was Jewish.The bodies of victims buried near the place of execution. The process of devastation lasted even after liberation, in part with the consent of the authorities. Even in the 1940s, the Cooperative submitted plans for machinery and construction materials storage. In 1953, the Office for Religious Affairs agreed to the "demolition of the fence of the Jewish cemetery in Grodzisk Maz (....) to use the materials for construction purposes subject to other tombstones in one place and part of the cemetery. Also ..... request to close the cemetery to use the square to square. "Over time, most of the former cemetery site became different companies including a scrap metal depot. For many years, leaders of the Reconstruction and Social Reconstruction of the Jewish Cemetery Grodzisku wanted tostop the progressive destruction of the cemetery. These plans were realized in 1988 with financial assistance from the city authorities and Jewish organizations that repaired the fence. The gate entrance is from the side of ul. Żydowskiej with a mounted plaque commemorating the participation of American Jews coming from Grodzisk Mazowiecki who restored the cemetery in 1922 bearing the inscription in Yiddish: "Link Grodziski Relief from New York. 5682", under the "6 July 1922." On February 27, 1996, the cemetery was landmarked. In 2002, at Street 3 Maja, dozens of matzevot used during the war for paving the yard to the house then occupied by the Wehrmacht soldiers were found. At the initiative of the Care of Monuments in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, the gravestones were extracted and transported to the cemetery. [See FILM 1 * FILM 2 Aleksandra Wasowicz courtesy of the Jewish Community in Warsaw] The parcel in the shape of an elongated rectangle has matzevot or their fragments. A number of gravestones from the 19th and early 20th century are at grass roots level. One can also find gravestones from the first half of the 19th century and during WWII. A small granite gravestone from the oldest part of the total devastation is on the site. Also preserved is the tomb of tzaddik Elimelech Grodziska (17 March 1892). Over two hundred sandstone gravestones have a semi-circle arc top with inscriptions in Hebrew and a few Polish texts. Typical Jewish gravestone art, either candles and candlesticks, hand lettering, holy books, trees, birds, lions exist. Weathering and lack of care destroyed polychromes decoration although traces of the dye can be found on a few matzevot. Among the graves is the special art is distinguished on the 1902 matzevot of Herczki Zawower, subtly decorated with an ornamental plant stele, and the candlestick relief on the 1907 grave of Malki Pletman. The keys to the cemetery gates are held in the Department of Housing and Municipal Economy, ul. Sportowej 29. More information about the cemeterycan be found at We Remember Jewish Grodzisk Mazowiecki! and in the book The Jewish Cemetery of Grodzisk Mazowiecki [PDF file (19 MB) here (click the right mouse button and select "Save Target As ..] Radio broadcasts of the Jews in Bogoria Grodzisk Maz (mp3, time 8 minutes). map from 1934 [May 2009]
cemetery photo. [August 2005] photos [January 2006]
Members of my family around the world are interested in renovating the cemetery. Contact: Serge Rozenblum, 17 rue du Docteur Magnan 75013 Paris, France; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. [date?]
burial list and cemetery photos [August 2014]
burial list [Jan 2015]
REFERENCE: They Lived Among Us: Polish Judaica, a travel brochure: Arline Sachs, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. extracted names of townstaht supposedly having Jewish cemeteries. These generally have names only; sometimes a description of famous people who lived there, but no page number.)
REFERENCE: Gruber, Ruth Ellen. Jewish Heritage Travel A Guide to East-Central Europe. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1992. p. 75. "Skierniewice"
[UPDATE] Polish town reconsidering plan to turn Jewish cemetery into apartment complex [November 2014]
[UPDATE] Jewish Cemetery Saved from Developers [February 2016]
Photos by Charles Burns [March 2016]