Alternate names: Starachowice, Starachowice-Wierzbnik. 51°04' N 21°04' E, 81.8 miles S of Warszawa. This town in central Poland with 56,500 inhabitants in 2005 in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship since 1999 and formerly in Kielce Voivodeship (1975-1998) and the capital of Starachowice powiat. On the River Kamienna, a tributary of the Vistula River, during the Holocaust, the ghetto in nearby Wierzbnik was liquidated and its prisoners sent to the Warsaw Ghetto and eventually, many to Treblinka. The Polish truck-brand STAR was produced in Starachowice in a special economy zone with lower tax rates to encourage new industry. cemetery photos. photos. During WWII in 1942, the Germans vandalized the 4-hectare Jewish cemetery dating from 1891. In 1944 gravestones with Hebrew and Yiddish inscriptions dating from 1893 with fine decorations typical of the period remained, possibly 400, the oldest of which was from 1893. In 1997, gravestones from the blighted cemetery were in Starachowicach Wierzbniku. [July 2009]
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Work will be done here by an organization in Israel. See Tomaszow-Mazowiecki for details. Source: Benjamin Yaari; Chairman of the Tomaszow Organization in Israel. Mr. Yaari does not have email so the data was sent by Ada Holtzman; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. [date?]
US Commission No. POCE00280
Starachowice is located in the Kielce region at 51°03' 21°04', 18 km from Skavzyskie-Kamienua. The cemetery location is 17 Stycznia St. [qurtier "Vierzbowa"]. Present population is 25,000-100,000 with no Jews.
- Town: Pvezydent Miasta Starachowice, 21 Radomska St., 27-200 Starachowice, tel. 55-19.
- Regional: region Konserwator Zabytkow, ul. IX Wiekow Kielc 3, Kielce, tel. 45634.
The earliest known Jewish community was 1905. 1921 Jewish population was 2159 (39.5%). The unlandmarked cemetery was established in 1891 with last Orthodox or Conservative burial in 1942 or 1944. The isolated urban hillside has no sign or marker. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all with a broken masonry wall and non-locking gate. The size of the cemetery was and is about.4 hectare. 100-500 gravestones, all in original locations with 50%-75% toppled or broken, date from 1893-20th centuries. The sandstone finely smoothed and inscribed stones or flat stones with carved relief decoration have Hebrew and Yiddish inscriptions. Some tombstones have traces of painting on their surfaces. There are unmarked mass graves. The municipality owns property is for Jewish cemetery. Adjacent properties are residential. The cemetery is smaller than in 1939 due to new roads and housing development. Occasionally, private visitors stop. The cemetery was vandalized during WWII but not in the last ten years. There is no maintenance or care. An ohel was vandalized. Security, pollution and vegetation are moderate threats. Vegetation overgrowth is a constant problem, disturbing graves. Weather erosion is a serious threat. Vandalism and incompatible nearby existing and planned development is a very serious threat. New roads and housing development are planned.
Dr. Adam Penkalla,deceased, completed survey and visited the site.
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. extracted names of townstaht supposedly having Jewish cemeteries. These generally have names only; sometimes a description of famous people who lived there, but no page number.)
Source: Gruber, Ruth Ellen. Jewish Heritage Travel A Guide to East-Central Europe. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1992. p. 78