Alternate names: Dąbrowa Białostocka [Pol], Dombrova [Yid], Dombrova-Belostotzka [Rus], Dąbrowa, Dubrowa, Dombrove, Dąbrowa Grodzieńska-Wieś, Russian: Домброва-Белостоцка. 53°40' N, 23°21' E, 20 miles W of Grodno, 38 miles NNE of Białystok, 19 miles SE of Augustów. 1900 Jewish population: 1,499.
Yizkors: Dubrowa: memorial to a shtetl (Spring Valley, NY, 1982) and Bóżnice Białostocczyzny (Białystok, 1992).
This town in NE Poland in Podlaskie Voivodeship (since 1999) was in Białystok Voivodeship (1975-1998). Gmina Dąbrowa Białostocka is an urban-rural administrative district in Sokółka County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in NE Poland with the town of Dąbrowa Białostocka, 19 mi N of Sokółka and 38 mi N of the regional capital Białystok as the seat with 2006 population of 12,755 (town of 6,147. Gmina villages and settlements of Bagny, Bity Kamień, Brzozowo, Brzozowo-Kolonia, Brzozowy Borek, Czarnorzeczka, Grabowo, Grodziszczany, Grzebienie, Hamulka, Harasimowicze, Harasimowicze-Kolonia, Jaczno, Jałówka, Kaszuba, Kirejewszczyzna, Kropiwno, Krugło, Kuderewszczyzna, Lewki, Łozowo, Łozowo-Kolonia, Małowista, Małyszówka-Kolonia, Miedzianowo, Mościcha, Nierośno, Nowa Kamienna, Nowa Wieś, Nowinka, Olsza, Osmołowszczyzna, Ostrowie-Kolonia, Ostrowo, Pięciowłóki, Podbagny, Prohalino, Reszkowce, Różanystok, Sadek, Sadowo, Sławno, Stara Kamienna, Stara Kamienna-Kolonia, Stock, Suchodolina, Szuszalewo, Trzyrzeczki, Wesołowo, Wiązówka, Wroczyńszczyzna, Zujkowszczyzna, Zwierzyniec Mały and Zwierzyniec Wielki. Jewish presence in the town dates from the 18th century. 1880 Jewish population was approximately 85% in a Jewish community that started as subordinate to the Grodno kehilla. As in most small towns in Podlasie, the Jewish community developed around the market. Jewish houses were on the main streets of Dabrowa: Kościuszki Square, ul. Szkolnej, ul. Kamińskiej i ul. Kamińska and ul. 3-ego Maja. 3-ego Maja. Ttwo synagogues and several brick houses of prayer existed. On the river was a beautiful brick synagogue with [slate?] roof and stained glass windows The building was severely damaged by the Nazis in 1941. The mikvah also was by the river in the northern part of the city. [April 2009]
CEMETERY:
US Commission No. POCE000105
The cemetery is located in Dabrowa Bialostocka by the intersection of Sztabinska and Suchowolska Streets. 1991 population: 5,000-25,000 with no Jews.
- Local: Urzad Miasta I Gminy, Dabrowa Bialostocka, 3 Maja 1, tel. 12-10-42.
- Regional: Wojewodzki Konserwator Zabytkow, Bialystok, Dojlidy Fabryczne 23, Tel. 41-23-32.
The earliest known Jewish community was the beginning of the 18th century. 1921 census Jewish population was 1218. Living here were Chaim Mosze Gerszon Mowszowicz, Rabbi Chaim Kac, and Rabbi Menachem Mendel. The was Orthodox, Conservative, and Progressive/Reform Jewish cemetery was established at the beginning of the 19th century with last known Jewish burial around 1943. Surrounding villages 5 to 10 km away used the cemetery. The isolated suburban hillside between fields and woods has no sign or marker. Reached by turning directly off a private road, access is open to all with is no wall, fence, or gate. The approximate size of the cemetery before WWII was 1 ha and today is 0.6 ha. 20 to 100 gravestones remain. 1 to 20 gravestones are no longer in original locations. Less than 25% of the surviving stones are toppled or broken. The gravestones date from 1860 to 20th cemeteries. granite, sandstone, slate, and concrete (cement rough stones or boulders, flat shaped stones, finely smoothed and inscribed stones, or flat stones with carved relief decoration have Hebrew inscriptions. Some tombstones have traces of painting on their surfaces. No known mass graves. The municipality currently owns the cemetery used as a Jewish cemetery and for agriculture (crops or animal grazing). Properties adjacent are agricultural and residential. Private visitors and local residents visit the cemetery rarely. The cemetery was vandalized during World War II and not in the last ten years, but occasionally between. No maintenance, care, or structures. Moderate threats: uncontrolled access, weather erosion, and vandalism. Vegetation and incompatible nearby development (existing) pose slight threats.
This site was visited between 1989 and 1990 by Tomasz Wisniewski, Bialystok, Bema 95/99, Tel. 212-46, who completed survey on August 10, 1991. He interviewed Bronislaw Markowski, Dabrowa Bialostocka (nie zyje), notatka w zbiorze autora.
UPDATE: 2007 Photo, description, and directions to cemetery. "The cemetery covers approximately 3 acres of dense varied vegetation and is completely surrounded by a white brick wall with locking wrought-iron gates on the east side. The wall is well-built. Information on where to obtain the key is a vailable at the gate, though evidence of entry over the fence is suggested by bricks placed as steps to enter over the wall. Immediately within the entrance is a memorial (see Bagnowka gallery images). Approximately 100 matzevoth remain in situ, some with supports, some boulder-style and some grotto style. A few generic graffiti marks are on the outside wall; within there is a little litter. The greatest danger appears to be the heavy vegetation (already dense in mid-May), bugs for the visitor and erosion to the inscription from the elements." photos. photos 1, gravestone photos 2, gravestone photos 3. The Jewish cemetery in Dabrowa Bialostocka located at the east side of the city, south side of Wyzwolenia Street. Nearly 270 matzevot left on the unfenced cemetery are covered with trees and weeds. Grounds of the Old Jewish Cemetery on Sienkiewicza St. is built over with nothing remaining. [April 2009]
DABROWA BIALOSTOCKA II: US Commission No POCE000106
The cemetery is located in Dabrowa Bialostocka, on the river Kropiwna, between the old streets Sztabinska and Sklodowskiej, in region Bialostocka. See Dabrowa Bialostocka I for town details. The Jewish cemetery was established in the mid-18th century with last known Orthodox or Conservative Jewish burial at the beginning of the 19th century. Communities from surrounding villages up to 15 km away used the cemetery. The cemetery does not exist today.
The approximate size of the cemetery before WWII was 1 ha. The cemetery was vandalized during World War II. The site was visited in 1990 and Tomasz Wisniewski, Bialystok, Bema 95/99, Tel. 212-46 conducted the survey, on September 29, 1991. He interviewed Bronislaw Markowski.
The materials above are either outdated or in error. Of the two separate descriptions of the cemetery and town, the first is reasonably accurate but does not reflect the restoration that was completed in June 1995. The history of the shtetl was related in a Yizkor book published by me in 1979, now out of print. A new edition will include exciting events leading up to June 1995 when a small group from America and Israel gathered to rededicate the cemetery that now is surrounded by a solid brick wall. There also is an iron gate and a plaque that commemorates the site although no work was done to restore the decaying gravestones. The local caretaker is Jan Jarjecki who was instrumental in accepting money raised by the Holsteins and overseeing the completed work. The new edition of the memorial book will be available, about June 1998 from me, the author, at the following address: Michael Nevins, 808 Arcadia Place, River Vale, NJ 07675. [date? 1996?]
Two sisters, Rena Holstein(d.1/23/96), and Lily Gritz had a stone wall, iron gate and monument built at the cemetery site. Source: Washington Jewish Week , Rachel B. Levine, Editorial Assistant [9/29/95]
UPDATE: On ul. Jana Pawła II. and fenced on four sides with a deteriorating high wall are several dozen gravestones. Massive concrete "hoods" are built as or over gravestones. Similar but not so large gravestones also can be found in the Jewish cemetery in Goniądz. A granite monument with a Star of David has the inscription in Hebrew and Polish: "dedicated to the memory of Jews dąbrowskich, dead at the cemetery and place of extermination, deportation during the period 1939-1945. Funders: Rena Wolsztejn, Lely Gritz, M. Grabiński ". The key to the locked cemetery gatecan be obtained from Office of the City. [May 2009]
burial list and gravestone photos [August 2014]
burial list [Jan 2015]