Alternate names: Praszka [Pol], Prashka [Yid, Rus], Praschkau [Ger], Прашка [Rus], ראשקה [Yid]. 51°03' N, 18°28' E, 65 miles SW of Łódź, 33 miles WNW of Częstochowa, 12 miles SSW of Wieluń. 1900 Jewish population: 1,878. Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego (1880-1902), IX, pp. 18-19: "Praszka". This town in Olesno County, Opole Voivodeship had 8,230 inhabitants in 2006. Gmina Praszka is an urban-rural administrative district in SW Poland with its seat is the town of Praszka, 20 km (12 mi) N of Olesno and 56 km (35 mi) NE of the regional capital Opole. The gmina 006 \total population was 13,876. Apart from the town of Praszka, Gmina Praszka contains the villages and settlements of Aleksandrów, Brzeziny, Gana, Kowale, Kozioł, Kuźniczka, Lachowskie, Marki, Prosna, Przedmość, Rosochy, Rozterk, Skotnica, Sołtysy, Strojec, Szyszków, Tokary, Wierzbie and Wygiełdów. Synagogue photos.In Praszka during WWII, the gravesstones were toppled and piled, where they remain.
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The Jewish cemetery was established in the present Praszce ul Kardynał Stefan Wyszyński,at the foot of Wzgórza Brunatnych. The exact date of its establishment is unknown. Gravestones date from the 19th and 20th centuries. The cemetery was surrounded by a stone wall with a broad avenue of birch trees down the center. During WW II, the Nazis destroyed the cemetery using stones from the wall to pave roads in nearby villages. On August 12, 1942, the Nazis murdered 17 Jews during the liquidation of the ghetto. Four policemen lined up two rows of women, men and a child in front of an already dug trench and shot them in the back. They made the Jews able to work bury those murdered. After the war, a memorial was erected on the mass grave. In the 1990s, members of the Association of Friends restored the heavily littered and overgrown cemetery in the shadow of nearby Shrine of Mary. Among the trees at the foot of the hill are a few hundred matzevot fragments. Video. Photos. [June 2009]US Commission No. POCE000165
Praszka (52º03 18º28) is located 57 km from Czestochowa in Czestochowa region Present population is 5,000-25,000 with no Jews. The unlandmarked Orthodox cemetery is located at Kosciuszki St. 1921 Jewish population was 1663, 37.1%. The isolated suburban hillside has no sign or marker. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all with no fence, gate, or wall. The size of the cemetery before World War II is unknown. Its current size is about 1.5 hectares. 100-500 gravestones, none in original positions with more than 75% broken or toppled, date from the beginning of 19th-20th centuries. The sandstone flat shaped stones, finely smoothed and inscribed stones, or flat stones with carved relief have Hebrew and in German inscriptions. There are no known mass graves. Municipality owns property used only as a Jewish cemetery. Properties adjacent are agricultural and residential. Frequently, local residents visit. It was vandalized frequently. There was maintenance performed on the cemetery but no current care. Vegetation overgrowth is a seasonal problem that prevents access. Security and vandalism are the two greatest threats. The tombstones have all been removed from their original positions and placed together but local residents constantly damage them.
Jan Pawel Woronczak, Sandomierska St. 21 m.1, 02-567 Warsaw, Tel: 49-54-62 completed this survey on 10/11/1991. He visited site in 1986.
SOURCE: 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.
BOOK: Gruber, Ruth Ellen. Jewish Heritage Travel A Guide to East-Central Europe. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1992. p. 77