Alternate names: Zamość [Pol], Zamoshtch, זאמאשטש [Yid], Замость [Rus], Zamoshch, Zamoshtsh, Zamostie, Zamotch, Zamost'ye, Zamose. 50°43' N, 23°15' E, 47 miles SE of Lublin. 1900 Jewish population: 7,034. Yizkors: Zamosc be-genona u-be-shivra (Tel Aviv, 1953); Pinkes Zamosc; yizker-bukh (Buenos Aires, 1957); and Pinkas ha-kehilot; entsiklopediya shel ha-yishuvim le-min hivasdam ve-ad le-aher shoat milhemet ha-olam ha-sheniya: Poland vol. 7: Kielce and Lublin (Jerusalem, 1999). This town in SE Poland with 66,633 inhabitants in 2004 in Lublin Voivodeship since 1999, 20 km from the town has an historical city center on the UNESCO World Heritage List. [July 2009]
ZAMOSC I: AS 207
The town is located in Zamosc province at 50º43' 23º15', 80 km SSE of Lublin. Cemetery is located at junction of Prosta St. and Bochaterow Monte Cassino St. Present town population is 25,000-100,000 with no Jews.
- Local: Urzad Miejski (city council), Rynek Wielki, tel. 2062.
- Local: Urzad Wojewodzki (Voivodship Office) Zamosc, ul. Partyzantow 3, Sejmik Samorzadowy Wojewodztwa Zamojskiego Zamosc, ul Partyzantow 3, tel. 31 34 (Local Governments' Committee of Voivodship Zamose).
- Regional: Panstwowa Sluzba Ochrony Zabytkow, Wojewodzki Konserwator Zabytkow, Zamosc, ul. Staszica 29, tel. 59 71. (State Preservation Authority, Conservation Officer for Voivodship). Regionalny Osrodek Sudiow i Ochrony Krajobrazu Kulturowego, Lublin, ul. Archidiakonska 4, tel. 73 62 24 (Regional Center for the Study and Preservation of Cultural Landscape).
- Interested: Urzad Wojewodzki-Wydzial Geodezji, Kartografii i Gospodarki Gruntami, Zamosc, ul. Przemyslowa 4, tel. 26 57. (Voivodship Office-Dept. of Land Survey, Cartography and Land Use).
The earliest known Jewish community was 1583; 1921 Jewish population was 9,383 (census). In 1588, privilege (permission to settle) wasgranted to Jews by Chancellor Jan Zamoyski. Jewish Quarter emerged around Rynek Solny (salt market.) Masonry synagogue 1610-1620 was built at Zydowska (Jewish) St. (now Zamenhoffa St.). The Jewish cemetery was established in 1907 (update: in ul Prosta). Buried there are Epstein and Goldstein families with last known Orthodox Jewish burial in 1941. Landmark: local monument to Nazi victims. The isolated urban flat land has no sign or marker. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all with a continuous fence and non-locking gate. The approximate size of the cemetery before World War II was 1.68 ha, now 0.018 ha. 100 to 500 gravestones, none in original location with more than 75% toppled or broken, date from 1934.The cemetery is not divided into special sections. The granite and sandstone flat shaped and inscribed stones, finely smoothed and inscribed stones or flat stones with carved relief decoration have Hebrew inscriptions. There is a memorial monument to Holocaust victims but no known mass graves. The municipality owns site used only as a Jewish cemetery. Properties adjacent are residential. The cemetery is smaller than before the WWII due to new roads or highways and housing development. Rarely, private visitors stop. The cemetery was vandalized during World War II. Stones have been patched and the wall and gate fixed. The monument and lapidarium were erected in 1950 and a metal fence with a gate put up in 1991. There is no current care. Serious problems include security and weather erosion. Slight threats include pollution, vegetation, vandalism, and incompatible nearby development (existing).
Malgorzata Radolowicz, ul. Florianska 37 m 3; Krakow completed survey on Aug. 24, 1995. Documentation: PSOZ [Wojewodzki Konserwator Zabytkow Zamosc, "Karta cmentarza" (Cemetery record chart), #32697 completed by M. Fornal, 1992; and "Studium historyczo-urbanistyczne" (Historical Urban Survey) by J.A. Milobedzki, Warsaw, 1953. Other documentation exists. She visited the site on July 24, 1995 and interviewed officers at Preservation Authorities and residents of housing near the cemetery.
ZAMOSC II: AS 208
Cemetery: Partyzantow St. (at present partially including plot of Wojewodzki Dom Kultury-Voivodship House of Culture) ca. 500m. The unlandmarked cemetery was established at the end of the 17th century with last known Orthodox Jewish burial in 1941. The isolated urban flat land has no sign or marker. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all.
Before the war, the cemetery comprised 2.8075 ha. Now it is approximately 2.5 ha. No stones or known mass graves exist. The municipality and unknown own site used for recreation. Adjacent property is residential, recreational plots, and fallow land. The cemetery is smaller than it was before WWII due to new roads or highways, housing development, and other public buildings (the House of Culture). The cemetery was vandalized during World War Two but not in the past ten years. There is no maintenance or structures. Security and vandalism are serious threats, due to the risk of uncontrolled excavations and the possibility of grave robbery. Incompatible existing development and vegetation are minor threats.
Malgorzata Radolowicz visited the site on July 24, 1995. (See Zamosc I)
- 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. 72-73
UPDATE: "I am working in conjunction with the Zamosc Survivors Organisation of Tel Aviv. I have started my own Charity called the Yaacov Maggid of Dubno Fund, which is a division of a family charity called Chasdei Avot. We are concerned about restoring and refencing the two Zamosc cemeteries where the Maggid of Dubno, Rabbi Jacob ben Wolf Kranz ztvkl, is buried." Contact Sheila Grossnass, The Yaacov Maggid of Dubno Fund, POB 33628, London N16 6AW U.K. (also concerned about Zhetl (Dyatlovo) Belarus, birthplace of the Dubno Maggid and Chofetz Chaim) This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. [June 2002]
Old Jewish Cemetery: UPDATE: The Jewish Cemetery located on ul Partyzantow [ul = Street] in Zamosc has been "landscaped", i.e., all kinds of trees have been planted thereon. Part of this ground is now marked out. It is/was used for a sports field. No gravestones are visible. Some possibly were used to create an unsightly monument of stuck together gravestones that stands in the ul Prosta (newer) Jewish Cemetery in Zamosc. Source: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. [September 2002]
UPDATE: In Poland, Jewish communal property including the burial grounds has been recovered. Most Jewish burial grounds will need to be refenced under the direction of the Union of Jewish Congregations in Poland: P. Kadelcik, President, Union of Jewish Congregations in Poland, Ul Twarda 6, 00950 Warsaw, Poland. Over the past two years, Sheila Grossnass has been trying to begin a restoration and refencing project for the Zamosc burial grounds. The mayor of Zamosc's responsibility for the reclamation.has been transferred to Union of Jewish Congregations in Poland. Claims were submitted including one for the return of the Jewish burial grounds in Zamosc. The tragic consequences of leaving a Jewish Burial Ground unprotected are real. Aside from weather conditions, grave robbing occurs. Reportedly, last year, fragments of Holy Torah scrolls, always traditionally buried in Jewish graveyards, were offered for sale to tourists in the marketplace of Krakow. Areas of the burial grounds are used for development and roads etc. with excavated human remains dumped on waste ground! Existing headstones are a target for thieves, who use them in the construction of their homes and for doorsteps. The grounds are open to wolves and trespassers and human bones in jeopardy. Preservation needs for a Jewish burial ground and a communal Jewish building are two totally different issues. In 1804, Maggidim (Rabbi and Preacher), known as the "Dubno" Maggid, passed away in Zamosc at the age of 63. 17th Teveth 5765 - 27th December 2004 will mark the 200th Yortzeit of the Maggid of Dubno, Rabbi Yaacov ben Zeev (Wolf) Kranz ztvkllh. We intend to make this an occasion to be remembered with the attention of World Jewry focused on the Zamosc Jewish Burial Ground. We will encourage groupPhotos by Charles Burnss to make a pilgrimage to Zamosc to pray and say Kaddish at the site of his grave. Anyone wishing to partidipate in the preservation or commemoration should contact Sheila Grossnass. Source: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. [January 2004]
UPDATE: synagogue sketch. [August 2005]
Photo courtesy Marla Osborne
[UPDATE] Photos by Charles Burns [April 2016]