Alternate names: Gorlits, Gorlitse, Gorlitza, גורליצה -Hebrew, גאָרליץ -Yiddish. 49°40' N, 21°10' E, 62 miles ESE of Kraków, 20 miles E of Nowy Sącz. 1900 Jewish population: about 3,000 and 1921: 2,300 Jews (41%) . Yizkor: Sefer Gorlice; ha-kehila be-vinyana u-ve-hurbana.(Israel, 1962). ShtetLink. A city and an urban municipality ("gmina") in SE Poland with around 29,500 inhabitants (2008) situated SE of Kraków and Sof Tarnów between Jasło and Nowy Sącz in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship (since 1999), previously in Nowy Sącz Voivodeship (1975-1998). It is the capital of Gorlice County. Jewish history and Holocaust information. cemetery photos. video. 2 synagogues. [May 2009]
REFERENCE: Gruber, Ruth Ellen. Jewish Heritage Travel A Guide to East-Central Europe. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1992. p. 46
REFERENCE: Source: Cohen, Chester G. "Jewish Cemeteries in Southern Poland" from `An Epilogue' in Shtetl Finder. 1980. "The cemetery seven or eight kilometers from the town was overgrown but enclosed by a fence."
Strózówka War Cemetery: No 92: Strózówka is a small village neighbouring to Gorlice. There are 6 cemeteries all in all, which have been located in various places of the village, reflecting main battlefields and positions of soldiers on May,2 in 1915. Has Jewish burials. website [May 2009]
CEMETERY: Photos. Photos. Jewish Cemetery in Gorlice was founded in the second half of the 18th century on the slope of the hill, in the present ul. Stróżowskiej. During WWII, the Nazis destroyed the cemetery. The gravestones were used to build the stairs to the Gestapo headquarters in the villa "Szklarczykówka" and for paving the streets. From liberation in 1945 to 1960, local Jewish survivors attempted to reorganize the cemetery and recovered gravestones, some calling for restoration. Jews shot in various locations in the region of Gorlice were given a collective grave in the cemetery and a monument dedicated to victims of Nazi repression. These Gorlice Jews gradually left the shtetl. Over time, the burial place was neglected. Gravestones were stolen. The remaining graves were only concrete bases. Cattle grazed there. Even the symbolic tomb on the place of execution of local Jews was destroyed. In the mid-1990s at the initiative originated of Gorlice's Paulina Bergman and co-operation of the Nissenbaum Family Foundation, the Foundation "Eternal Memory" and the city, the area of the cemetery was fenced and cleaned. Some matzevot were reset. Ohels also were reconstructed, in which rest:
- - Cwi Hirsz Halbersztam, tzaddik rabbi, president of the court in rabinackiego Rudniku, son of Baruch, who died in 5678 (24.07.1918),
- - Baruch Halbersztam, son of Chaim Halbersztam - founder of the famous Hassidic dynasty in Nowy Sacz, chairman of the court and Rudniku rabinicznego in Gorlice, who died in Adar 5666 (February 1906) at the age of 76,
- - Jehoszuy Rabbi Pinchas, son of Eleazar ben Pinchas and Korce tzaddik Kosovo gaon, maggid and dajan, who died on 5661 (14.02.1901).
MASS GRAVE: At the cemetery Germans executed a number of Jews and gypsies. One of the places of extermination of Jews from the ghetto in Gorlice Garbacz was the gatehouse. Władysław Boczoń in his book entitled The Jews Gorliccy describes the execution carried out here on August 14, 1942: "... screams of despair of mothers of murdered children was going away, although the dense forest heard the sounds of murder. (.. .) (...) The huge bottom of dead pushed. ... Since the slaughter of old was on the spot and those able to work were still in the camp in Płaszów, Garbacz Ukrainians in the forest and German "knights" battled children and women." After the war, mass graves were surrounded by a wall of the monument, on which is the inscription:" In this tomb rests with massive remains of some 700 Jews from Gorlice and Bobowa, victims of the Nazi slaughter, bestially murdered on 14 August 1942. This Issue and caring for the grave of the holy place is a major achievement of Nuchyma Ormianera and James Peller, Chairman of the District Committee of the Jews ". [May 2009]
US Commission No. POCE000740
As a result of the new administrative division (from January 1, 1999) the town is now in the province (voivodship) called Malopolskie [Little Poland], with its capital in Cracow. Cemetery: western slopes of the Cemetery Mountain. Gorlice is located at 49º90 N 21º10 E, 14 km from Krakow and 39 km from Nowy Sacz. Present town population is 25,000-100,000 with no Jews.
Mayor of Town: Urzad Miejski, Rynek 2, 38-300 Gorlice, tel. 214 14.
Regional: M. Eng. Zygmunt Lewczuk, Konserwator Wojewodzki [Conservator of Monuments], ulica Kilinskiego 68, 33-300 Nowy Sacz, tel. 238 38, ext. 234.
1921 Jewish population was 2300 persons. 1939 Jewish population was 9500. The landmarked Orthodox and the Progressive/Reform Jewish cemetery was established in the 18th century. The isolated suburban hillside has no sign or marker. Reached by crossing private property, access is open with permission. A broken masonry wall with no gate surrounds. The approximate size of the cemetery both before WWII and today is 1.6 ha. 100-500 gravestones, with 1-20 in original location and more than 75% broken or topped, date from the 19th and 20th centuries. The location of removed stones is unknown. The cemetery is not divided into any special sections. The marble, granite, and sandstone mostly flat stones with carved relief decoration have Hebrew and Polish inscriptions. The cemetery contains a special memorial monument to Holocaust victims and marked mass graves. Probably the town of Gorlice owns site unclaimed by the Jewish community for return of the property. The property is now used only for the Jewish cemetery. Adjacent properties are recreational and agricultural. The cemetery boundaries are the same as in 1939. Occasionally, organized Jewish group tours or pilgrimage groups and private visitors stop. The cemetery was vandalized during World War II; it is probably maintained to some extent by the town of Gorlice. Within the cemetery is an ohel. The cemetery is completely fenced with a monument. The Nissenbaum Family Foundation, the town, and the Remembrance Foundation sponsored the fence and monument. Most of the tombstones are lying on the ground, causing quick stone corrosion. Also serious is the lack of security since access is uncontrolled. Pollution and vandalism from nearby sources is judged to be moderately threatening while development either now or in the future is rated as only a slight threat.
Piotr Antoniak ul. Dobro 5 m 36, 05-800 Pruszkow visited the site on Aug. 26, 1992 and completed the survey on 9/9/1992. This town was updated by Eleonora Bergman; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. in August 1999. Eleonora Bergman is project manager for the Wyszkow model cemetery project of the Commission.
GORLICE II:
War Cemetery: Kriegerfriedhof Nr. 90. 1 Jewish WWI soldier. Source: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
website [May 2009]
