LIDZBARK WELSKI: Warmińsko-Mazurskie

Alternate names: Lidzbark [Pol], Lautenburg [Ger], Lidzbark-Wieś, Lidzbark Welski, Lidzbark Działdowski. 53°16' N, 19°49' E, 88 miles SSE of Gdańsk (Danzig). Jewish population: 489 (in 1885), 60 (in 1921). Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego(1880-1902), V, pp. 218-220: "Lidzbark". This town with 8,670 inhabitants in the Warmia-Masurian Voivodeship on the Wel river and Lake Lidzbark is popularly referred to as Lidzbark Welski, to distinguish it from Lidzbark Warmiński. The 0.35 ha cemetery is located at the junction of ul. Zieluńskiej and Kraziewicza facing Biedronka store and on the left side of the walkway, Żuromin. Fragments of about 30 destroyed tombs remain in the cemetery. Also the foundations of what probably are remains of the mortuary house or ohel. Photos. Video. [May 2009]

US Commission No. POCE000369

Alternate name: Lautenburg (German) and Lidzbark Dzialwoski (Hung.). Lidzbark Welski is located in Ciechanow at 53º1619º49, 25 km from Dzialdowo. The cemetery is located at Zielunska St. Present population is 5,000-25,000 with no Jews.

• Town: Major Tadeusz Iskra, Urzad Miasta 13-230, Lidzbark, Tel. 258.
  
• Regional: Krzysztof Kalisciak Wojewodzki Konserwator Zabytkow, ul. Mickiewicza 4, 06-400 Ciechanow, Tel, fax: 49-52.
  
• Local: Marian Konrad Klubinski, Pelnomocnik Wojewody d.s. Kontaktow z Koscidlami i Wyznaniami, (Province's Plenipotentiary for Contacts with Churches and Denominations), Urzad Wojewodzki, ul. 17 Stylznia 7, 06-400 Ciechanow., Tel. (823) 22-55, 20-51 w 238, Fax. 2665.

The earliest known Jewish community was 1772. 1931 Jewish population was 80. The Orthodox, Sephardic Orthodox, Conservative, and Progressive/Reform cemetery was established during the 18th century. No other towns or villages used this unlandmarked cemetery. The isolated urban hillside has no sign or marker. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all. There is no wall or fence surrounding the cemetery. There is no gate barring access to the cemetery. The size of cemetery before WWII and now is 0.41 hectares. Fewer than 20 visible sandstone and other materials flat shaped stones, flat stones with carved relief decoration, or multi-stone monuments are less than 25% broken or toppled and date from the 19th century. There are no structures or known mass graves. The municipality owns the cemetery used for Jewish cemetery only. Properties adjacent are residential. Rarely, private visitors and local residents visit. The greatest threat faced by the cemetery is the adjacent residential development. Its heating pipes run through the cemetery. Vegetation overgrowth in the cemetery is a seasonal problem that prevents access and disturbs graves and gravestones. The cemetery was vandalized during World War II, but not in the last ten years. Occasionally, authorities clean or clear the cemetery.
Wojcieck Henrykowski, ul. Spoldzielcza 20, 06-200 Makow Mazowiecki completed survey on 07/10/1991 using the cemetery documentation in the collection of Panstwowa Sluzba Ochrony Zabytkow w Ciechanowie nr 36/83. Stuolium Historyczno Urbanistyczne Lidzbark [Scientific Documentation of Lidzbark] in the PSOZ Ciechanowie collection was also referenced. W. Henrykowski visited the site on 4 and 7 September 1991 and interviewed the employees of the communal office in Lidzbark on 4 September 1991.