Alternate names: Wrocław [Pol], Breslau [Ger], Vratislav [Cz], Bresle [Yid], Vrotslav [Rus], Wratislavia [Lat], Wrosław, Breslavl', Breslavia, Bresslau. 51°06' N, 17°02' E. Historical capital of Lower Silesia. 1900 Jewish population: 20,000. Also used cemetery at Krotoszyn. Yizkors: Walter Tausk Breslauer Tagebuch 1933-1940 (Berlin, 1975). Wroclawscy Zydzi 1850-1944 (Wroclaw, 1994). Tormersdorf, Grjssau, Riebnig. Obozy przejsciowe dla Zydow Dolnego Slaska z lat 1941-1943 (Wroclaw, 1997).  [July 2009]

Jewish Community at Wlodkowica 9, Wroclaw, tel: +48 71 343 64 01, +48 71 781 7112, fax: +48 71 344 70 48, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. owns the cemeteries. Source: Adam Wojtkiewicz at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. [January 2003]

Photos. photos. photos. photos. [July 2009]

MEDIEVAL CEMETERY: Established probably at the end of the 12th century (based on matzevot found) on today's streets Traugutt, Podwale and Z. Krasinski, the first Jewish cemetery in Wroclaw had about 5 morgue of land. The Chief of Silesia, Czech king Jan of Luxembourg, ordered demolition of the site on September 27, 1345. Gravestones from the cemetery were used to repair walls, pave streets, and construct buildings although several matzevot are extant. The grave of Aaron ben Abraham, a rabbi, dating from 1174 was found in 1924 between houses at present ul. Kiełbaśniczej 5, przy Rynku 6, Kiełbaśnicza 5, and 6 Market. The oldest known matvezah found in 1917 at the cathedral was that of David ben Sar Shalom, died August 4, 1203, who may have been Sephardic. The gravestone of Chajima bat Rabbi Ben Levi, died December 26, 1245, was found in the courtyard of City Hall in 1848. An incomplete gravestone found in 1936 on the slope between the bridges Odrzańskie Pokoju and Grunwaldzkim was from the grave of Rabbi Jacob Isaac ben Rabbi Chaim (May 13, 1343). The largest preserved medieval matzevah found in the Catholic parish house in Leśnicy (now part of Wrocław) dates from February 1, 1345. They can be seen in the Archaeological Museum of Wroclaw or at the cemetery on ul. Ślężnej. Video.  Photos.  [July 2009]

51 ul Lotnicza Cemetery: At the end of the 19th century, little room for burials at ul Ślężna cemetery remained. The Wroclaw Jewish community acquired land (50 morgue) in the village of Cosel (Kozanów) at Berlin Road (later Flughafenstrasse and currently ul. Lotnicza). In May 1900, construction began. On February 14, 1902, the cemetery was dedicated. The designers were the brothers Paul and Richard Ehrlich (creators of the Wroclaw Jewish Hospital, now Wiśniowej Street Hospital). The huge cemetery chapel and arcaded cloisters of the beit tahara were to the left of the entrance. To the right of the main avenue was a two-story Board house and nearby the florist, and gardener, gravedigger, and inspector house. After 1918, more than 11 hectares were added, reminiscent of a Romantic landscape park. The paths were neither parallel nor perpendicular, but rather were ordered by avenues of rosewood trees. Gardener employed at the cemetery isolated the SE land to grow seedlings and young trees. The greenhouses still exist, but are mostly burnt.). In the southern part is a 58m x 28m WWI military cemetery for 432 Jewish soldiers.  During WWII, a mass grave of concentration camp prisoners was dug. The office and house were used as a hospital for those in Jewish-Christian mixed marriages. Wooden or brick ohels were for great rabbis and tzaddikim and very rarely lay people. The only ohel known in Lower Silesia standing on the grave of a woman is located on the 1909 grave of Mines Ciry Majzel, wife of the famous rabbi of Lodz, Elijah Ham Majzla. This simple, square brick building faces NE. Today, the interior is destroyed and the whole structure covered with ivy. On September 26, 1983 the cemetery was landmarked. The beit tahara and gallery survived, but the building and chapel were demolished in the 1960s. A wall, gate, and beautiful reliefs surround the terribly overgrown cemetery. Repeated acts of vandalism are strongly evident. The cemetery can be visited free of charge every Sunday 09.00-13.00. inventory of tombstones (Excel file-This 1995 list does not cover the graves of persons deceased after World War II.) Photos and information. video . In July 2006 at the initiative of Margaret Frackowiak  and the Department of Criminal No. 1 in Wroclaw started cleaning performed by inmates of the prison in cooperation with the Jewish Community in Wroclaw. The PSF ALBA,company helps clean the cemetery providing free garbage disposal. Photos [July 2009]

[UPDATE] Photos by Charles Burns of Lotnicza Street Cemetery [April 2016]

The 19th Century Cemetery on Ślężna Street

[UPDATE] Photos by Charles Burns of Slezna Street Cemetery[April 2016]

This morning, I helped clean up at the Lotnicza Street cemetery,

something that I, like others in the struggling little Jewish Community here do whenever I can. On this trip, I also had the pleasure of locating a grave for a JewishGenner who was sure no trace would be left. We struggle to restore and maintain the Lotnicza Street cemetery. Yes, the cemetery is in need of a great deal more care than the Jewish community is able to give, not from neglect but from of a lack of resources. The Lotnicza Street cemetery was severely damaged in WWII and was plagued by chronic vandalism for many years as well. Its care and preservation are now in the hands of the Wroclaw Jewish Community. Volunteer efforts to restore and catalog it are making headway, little by little. I am glad Steven Amdur saw that more than thieves visit the cemetery. However, contrary to his report, vandalism has been a problem. The Jewish Community of Wroclaw welcomes any assistance in our effort to restore and maintain the Lotnicza Street Cemetery. Source: Sherill Pociecha This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. [4 September 2000]

UPDATE 17 November 2015: The 19th Century Cemetery on Ślężna Street

UPDATE 24 October 2009:

There is a group of dedicated young people in Wroclaw who have made it their task to research, restore and record the Jewish Cemetery at Lotnicza Street.

A year ago, in October 2008, the group established the "Foundation for the Wroclaw Jewish Cemetery at Lotnicza Street".  The founder, Malgorzata (Gosia) Frackowiak, has summarized the aims of the Foundation:

To take care of and to restore those parts of the Lotnicza Street cemetery that have become neglected over the years, to protect the vegetation
within the area, and to develop an educational program that promotes Jewish history, culture and religion as well as tolerance.  Only after the
site will be thoroughly cleaned, will it be possible to determine which gravestones may be restored.  Full photographic documentation is planned,
with the eventual creation of a Name List.

In fact, this work has already been in progress for several years.  The aim is to bring the project on to a more formal and organized level, hopefully with
the eventual cooperation of the Wroclaw Jewish Community.  I am personally familiar with the stories of several persons who have found
the burial sites of their relatives thanks to Gosia's knowledge and enthusiasm.  The "Verband ehemaliger Breslauer in Israel" (Association
of former citizens of Breslau in Israel), have publicly expressed appreciation of Gosia's devoted work, in their Bulletin.

For details of the Foundation and their goals, see their web page at: http://www.friedhofcosel.info/en/foundation.php.  From posting to GerSIG by

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Haifa.

ulica Slezna Cemetery:. In 1854, the Kahal purchased 3 hectares in the village (then) Gabitz.Po, Gabitz at Lohestrasse (current ul. Ślężna). The cemetery wall, alleys, and two buildings (beit tahara and caretaker house) were built. Consecrated on November 17, 1856 by Rabbi Abraham Geiger. The cemetery was increased by two narrow strips of land to the west and north bringing the size to 4.6 hectares. In 1912, due to its poor condition, brothers Paul and Richard Ehrlich built a two-story house (for the gravedigger, inspector, offices, and a florist), and a lantern to crown the beit tahara at the entrance gate. The first funeral, that of merchant Lobel Stern, took place on November 17, 1856. Many famous people were buried in this cemetery including Ferdinand Lassalle, Clara Sachs, Heinrich Graetz, Ferdinand Julius Cohn, Friederike Kempner, Gedalje, Auguste and Siegfried Stein, Abraham Levy, and Louis Galewsky. Graves of Jews arrived from remote sites, including Warsaw, Gdansk, Lubeck, Bonn, Hamburg, Moroccan Tangeru or Boston. About 12,000 burials took place here. In 1943 the cemetery closed. Bullet damage from WWII can be seen in the cemetery. After the war, the site began rapid deterioration. Landmarked in May 1975, in 1988 this place was made available to the public the Museum of Contemporary Cemetery Art, which is a subsidiary of the Municipal Museum of Wroclaw. Some matzevot are a Moorish or "egispki" style. The cemetery can be visited daily 10.00-18.00 upon payment of the entrance fee. Telefon: 071 791 59 03. Phone: 071 791 59 03. Photos. Jewish cemetery in Wroclaw. Video. [July 2009]

Ul Gwarna Cemetery: The cemetery at the present ul Gwarnej was established in 1761 and operated probably to 1856. In 1908 an extension of the cemetery road (Dworcowa) divided it in two parts. A smaller portion finally was reversed in 1937. With more than 3,000 matzevot, by the end of WWII, a few dozen survived. All graves disappeared. On the wall of the Church of St. Maurycego is an array of epitaphs dated November 1855. Photos. Video. [July 2009

see http://www.wcss.wroc.pl/wroclaw/religia/cmen/cm_zy_a.htm [August 2003]

Cemetery photos [January 2006] UPDATE: Cemetery photos [January 2006] cemetery photos [May 2006] cemetery photos. [January 2006]

• BOOK: Der alte juedische Friedhof in Wroclaw (Breslau) by Maciej Lagiewski, published by Architektur-Museum in Wroclaw, 1988 Although Jews lived in the town since 1345 it was 400 years before they had a cemetery there. Before then, their dead were transported to Brzeg Dolny (Dyhernfurth), in Krotoszyn (Krotoschin), Glogow (Glogau), Rawicz (Rawitsch), Leszno (lissa) or Biala Prudnicka (Zuelz) In 1760 they were given permission for a cemetery. The book gives a detailed history of the community and points out that about 12,000 gravesstones are missing inscriptions or have instriptions no longer legible. They were written in German, Hebrew and Yiddish. About 120 names were legible and are recorded in the book with more details than given in the project. Unidentified other stones to see in the cemetery. Tombstones from the Middle Ages (from the oldest Jewish cemetery from the 1200s to the 1400s); S wall near the main gate, Nr. 1 and 2. Also graves of fallen soldiers from the 1870s: S wall, Nr. 17
• BOOK: Die Geschichte juedischer Friedhoefe in Wroclaw (Breslau); 37 pages and other material; location at http://www.lbi.org/library.html Leo Baeck Institute, NY: Breslau Jewish community collection; Storage-Cemetery: Second floor, 2nd floor left microfilm cabinet Donors: Polska Akademia Nank, Warszawa; acquired August 4, 1967. (MF 233), Period covered (or date of publication): 1786-1981. Size of the collection: 30 items one reel; Accession Number(s): AR 2355, MF 233.
• BOOK: Alte schlesische Judenfriedhoefe; Breslau und Dyherrnfurt (Old Silesian Jewish cemeteries: (Breslau) Wroclaw and (Dyherrnfurt) Brzeg Dolny), by A. Grotte. Berlin, 1927. 42 pages, illustrated, German. 32V1412. Notes: 37 tombstones, 1729-1846, names index, cemetery history, tombstone art analysis. Source: Printed Books on Jewish cemeteries in the Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem: an annotated bibliography by Mathilde Tagger. Jerusalem: The Israel Genealogical Society, 1997. There are three Jewish cemeteries in Wroclaw. The oldest, within sight of the railway station, is now bare. It survived WWII intact but the Soviet Communist government removed (and I suppose reused or destroyed) all the gravestones. The area is now bare. I think part of it has been made into a red-clay tennis court with a practice-board, but I may be mistaken. Surrounded by a very high mesh fence, but apparently accessible, area is rather unsavory. Apparently, the former cemetery serves as a gathering place for improper goings-on. The municipality would presumably be willing to return legal ownership to the Jewish Community of Wroclaw, which would then have to somehow find funds to properly safeguard it in perpetuity. Two other Jewish cemeteries in Wroclaw are both intact. It is my impression that neither suffers from vandalism or theft of gravestones. Source: Steven Amdur; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. [date?]
• BOOK: Author: Lewin, Isaac, collector. Title: Lewin collection, [ca. 1200]-1942, [ca. 1700]-1942 (bulk) Description: ca. 22.5 linear ft. Notes: Contains variety of records of Jewish communities in Central and Eastern Europe especially in Posen, Silesia and other German-speaking areas, including pinkasim (record books) of communities and societies, memorial books with lists of deaths,..., cemetery registers, society statutes, synagogue seat records, and other documents of communities at ...Breslau (Wroclaw, Poland), 1808-1844; .. Location: Yeshiva University . Special Collections. Rare Books and Manuscripts, New York, NY. Control No.: NYYH88-A76 [December 2000]

• BOOK: Freedman, Warren. World Guide for the Jewish Traveler . NY: E.P. Dutton Inc, 1984. Extracted by Bernard Kouchel, 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. 26, 71-72