Jewish Cemeteries of Kraków

New Jewish Cemetery on Miodowa Street in Kraków, Poland.

The Kazimierz District of Kraków is known as the Jewish Quarter. The Jews lived here until they were forced into the ghetto during the Second World War. Today there are still remnants of Jewish presence in the Jewish Quarter, including synagogues and a kosher restaurant.

In the center of the district is the Remuh Cemetery, one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in Europe. I found the outer brick walls on Jakuba Street and walked completely around the graveyard, looking for a way in. I did this twice and finally conceded that the entryway must have been through the synagogue, which on this day was closed for a Jewish holiday. That would be my luck!

Outer wall of the Remuh Cemetery.

Remuh Cemetery, also known as the Old Jewish Cemetery. 

On the west side of the cemetery, framed within the brick wall, was a grated aperture where one could peer inside and see the graves. I pushed my face to the metal grate and took in the site. It was indeed a lush graveyard, with green plants and trees growing all around. The tombstones were far enough away I couldn't read them, but they appeared to be inscribed in faded Hebrew. I have read that the oldest preserved tombstone date is from 1552.

The Remuh Cemetery has a long history of ups and downs. After 150 years of active use, it was ordered by the government to close in 1799. This was in response to an effort to build cemeteries outside of city limits for health reasons. Land for a new cemetery was purchased near the Vistula River.

After the closure, the cemetery fell into disrepair. By the early 1900's many of the monuments were toppled, sunk into the ground, or became missing. One man lamented, “Here and there, gloomy tombstones, overgrown with greenery, protrude from the ground. Time has erased their inscriptions, sculptures and various decorations. A large part of the cemetery is almost empty.”

In 1943, when the Kraków ghetto was liquidated and Jews were sent to the Plaszów concentration camp, mobs began to plunder graves and destroy tombstones. During this time the cemetery was used as a garbage dump. Only a handful of tombstones survived.

Old Jewish Cemetery in Kraków, Poland.

There are several legends associated with the cemetery. One involves Rabbi Moses Isserles Remuh, the founder of the synagogue and cemetery. During the war German officers excavated his grave on the anniversary of his death, hoping to plunder what was inside. Instead, they found a corpse that still looked like a living, sleeping man. This spooked them so much that they fled and didn't return.

The slow work to restore the cemetery began nearly a decade after the war. Archeological projects uncovered over 700 graves beneath layers of soil and rubble. Less damaged tombstones and sarcophagi were repositioned, but it was impossible to match them with the correct graves. Fragmented tombstones were used to create a mosaic on the inside wall of the cemetery.

By the time I was peering inside the cemetery in 2025, the grounds looked very clean and well kept. I would have never guessed that at one time it was in disrepair.

Kowea Itim le-Tora Synagogue in the Old Jewish Quarter of Kraków.

I circled the cemetery again, passing the Old Synagogue and walking along Szeroka Street. This street was used by Steven Spielberg in his movie Schindler's List to depict the Jewish Ghetto.

At the top of the street, and across from the Remuh Synagogue, is a little square. According to one account, this used to be the oldest section of the cemetery, even though nowadays it is located outside the cemetery walls. There is a memorial here written in Polish, Hebrew and English commemorating the Holocaust: “Place of meditation upon the martyrdom of 65 thousand Polish citizens of Jewish nationality from Crakow and its environs killed by the Nazis during World War Ⅱ.”

New Jewish Cemetery on Miodowa Street.

New Jewish Cemetery.

Less than a quarter mile from the Remuh Cemetery, on Miodowa Street, is the “New” Jewish Cemetery. When it was created, this would have been just outside of the Kazimierz District and across a branch of the Vistula River. (In modern times that river branch has been filled in and there are railroad tracks and a road.)

On another day (that wasn't a Jewish holiday) I came to visit the New Jewish Cemetery and found the gates unlocked. This cemetery was established in 1800 in response to the closure of the Remuh Cemetery. The first thing I noticed were the outer walls made with fragments of tombstones. From my understanding, these fragments were recovered after World War Ⅱ when Nazis used them as paving stones along the road to the Plaszów concentration camp. The Nazis never missed an opportunity to show how cruel they were.

Inner walls made with fragments of tombstones, New Jewish Cemetery.

This cemetery was one of the most fascinating I've ever seen. Within the walls were thousands of tombstones, all jumbled together in mismatched patterns and leaning every direction or toppled. Ivy-covered trees grew so plentiful and high that any sense of the outside world seemed to disappear. Their roots bulged from the ground, causing tombstones to tip sideways.

The entire graveyard was a sea of tombstones and ivy, with only a handful of alleyways. They were stacked so close together that I couldn't imagine that there would be room for that many burials.

Jumble of headstones at New Jewish Cemetery.

This tombstone uses the Jewish calendar. 

Nearly all the inscriptions were in Hebrew, so I could not understand them. On one of them I was able to decipher the year “5649” from the Jewish calendar. That would be 1889 for us.

During World War Ⅱ the cemetery was partially destroyed. Once source said the Germans used it for a training ground. Aleksander Bieberstein, a Jew who survived the Holocaust, described the cemetery's condition at that time: “Monuments in this area were demolished, graves were open, bones and religious objects were scattered among the dug-up earth.”

German soldier at a Jewish cemetery in Kraków.

Even though this cemetery is a pilgrimage site for many Jews, it is sad to think that most of decedents of those buried were killed in the evil hands of the Holocaust. Those that did escape are likely now to live in Israel or America, and have little opportunity to visit the final resting spot of their ancestors. And for those who do make it here, I would imagine that it is nearly impossible to find their ancestors' headstones among the thousands that are here. Many are so eroded that they're not even legible.

Even the New Jewish Cemetery would eventually become full. In 1932 burials would now be conducted in a newer cemetery, south of the Vistula River in a district called Podgórze. This is where the story of Jewish cemeteries takes another sad turn.

New Jewish Cemetery.

Podgórze was for most of history its own town, separated from Kazimierz and Kraków by the Vistula River. The Jews had their own community in Podgórze. In 1887 they established a cemetery on Jerozolimska Street. It is now referred to as the “Old Jewish Cemetery Podgórze.”

In 1920 the community began construction on a new funeral parlor. It was built in a “Byzantine” style with three domes, the central one being 25 meters high. It was complete with a morgue, embalming room, prayer closet and a ceremony room.

Funeral parlor at the Old Jewish Cemetery in Podgórze.

In 1915, the town of Podgórze was integrated into Kraków. Years later, the Jewish communities of Podgórze and Kraków merged to become one. Hence, when the New Jewish Cemetery on Miodowa Street became full in 1932, the logical place for a new cemetery would have been in the newly incorporated area of Podgórze. Land was purchased on Abrahama Street, which put the new cemetery next door to the Old Jewish Cemetery Podgórze, separated only by a foot path.

In the 1920's a building was constructed for the Chevra Kadisha burial society. This later became known as the Grey House. It was used for administration for the new cemetery on Abrahama Street.

The stage was set. There was the Old Jewish Cemetery in Podgórze next to the New Jewish Cemetery in Podgórze. A new funeral parlor had been build, as well as a building for administration (the Grey House).

Photo of Old Jewish Cemetery in Podgórze with funeral parlor in background.

Then came World War Ⅱ in September of 1939. Everything would change.

With the German invasion of Poland, Kraków became the seat of the General Government, a separate administrative region of the Third Reich. Little by little the Jews of Kraków had rights taken away and property confiscated. In March of 1941 all remaining Jews were forced in the ghetto, a confined area in the Podgórze District.

In 1942 the Germans came up with the idea of a concentration camp just a mile away from the ghetto. This would not be an extermination camp like that at Auschwitz, but a labor camp, and most likely a stepping stone to an extermination camp. The name of this new camp would be Plaszów.

I believe the Germans were very intentional as to where they built Plaszów. First, it was very close to the ghetto, which made it very convenient to transfer people. Second, it was located on the outskirts of town and in a secluded area surrounded mostly by hills, thus making it less conspicuous to the local population. And third, it was built right on top of the old and new Jewish cemeteries at Podgórze. Yes, the Germans were very cruel.

Almost all that remains of the Old Jewish Cemetery in Podgórze are the foundations of headstones.

Old Jewish Cemetery.

Aleksander Bieberstein, in his book The Holocaust of the Jews in Krakow wrote:

“The Old Podgórze Cemetery on Jerozolimska Street had many valuable tombstones, including those made of black Swedish granite, ash-gray Czech granite, and red Trembowla granite. Many of these tombstones were works of stonemasonry. During the construction of the Plaszów camp, all the tombstones were removed, broken into smaller pieces, and used as roadbeds. Black slabs lined the entrances to the so-called Rotes Haus―the house that served as Amon Goeth's first residence in the Plaszów camp. The SS sold many of these tombstones to Kraków stonemasons.

“During the construction of the camp, large bulldozers leveled the site of the future camp, demolishing the remains of surviving graves and monuments, often bringing to the surface the bones of the deceased. The skull bones were carefully examined for any preserved crowns or artificial teeth made of precious metals. The cemetery's funeral home was converted into a bathing and disinfection facility.”

Re-creation of road using tombstones for pavers in the movie, Schindler's List. 

The old cemetery was leveled to build quarantine barracks, a bath, and a warehouse.

The quarantine barracks, built directly on the graves, were used to keep newly arrived prisoners in isolation before being transferred to residential barracks.

On the north side of that cemetery there is a mass grave holding nearly 2,000 Jews who were executed around the time of the liquidation of the ghetto. Mass graves were dug using excavators known as “diggers.” Thus came the phrase in camp of being “sent to the digger.”

As for the new cemetery, every trace of it was wiped clean. The appellplatz, or roll-call area, was built in its stead, along with more barracks.

Remember the funeral parlor that was built in a Byzantine style with three domes? It was converted into a stable by the Nazis for their horses and other animals. When it became too small for all their animals, they blew it up, completely destroying it (except for one wing because their water pump was located in the cellar).

All that remains of the funeral parlor.

The Grey House retained its administrative use, although now for the Nazis. Amon Göth used it as an office. Many Jews were murdered and tortured in its basement, most notably in standing cells where you could neither stand up straight nor sit down.

Jenelle and I visited the site of the former concentration camp. Today it is a very large grassy area with graveled footpaths and signs marking the old sites of Plaszów. All the buildings have been dismantled except the Grey House.

As for the new cemetery, there is nothing there that would suggest it was a burial site. It is a large grass field. While there we saw clusters of people relaxing with their kids or pets on the grass. Everything was very laid back.

The old cemetery, on the other hand, still has the foundations of several graves. I believe archeologists uncovered these decades later. An areal view actually looks like a cemetery. One headstone lies on the grass with most of the front chipped off, making the inscription illegible. There is another headstone that completely survived. It is of Jakub Chaim Abrahamar who died in 1932. He was the great-grandfather of the artist and actress Roma Ligocka, who happens to be the cousin of the film director, Roman Polanski.

Only legible tombstone left at Old Jewish Cemetery.

Just a small walk on the graveled footpath led us to the remains of the former funeral parlor. All that was left now were huge rectangular blocks of stone.

It was a very solemn experience to be in a place where such evil took center stage, and yet was a sacred place to those who had family members who suffered there, or were buried. The saddest part of all is that many of these people who were victims of Plaszów, or were buried in one of these cemeteries, were denied the joy of posterity. Entire families were wiped out during the holocaust.

As Jenelle and I walked back to the tram station, we by necessity walked along Jerozolimska Street. In the time of Plaszów this was one of the streets paved with tombstones. Now it is paved with asphalt and is in a quiet neighborhood. ♠

Jerozolimska Street used to be paved with tombstones. 

Sources

Cmentarze zydowskie w Polsce - Jewish cemeteries in Poland. (n.d.). http://cmentarze-zydowskie.pl

WW2 locations / Best WW2 books non fiction / Documentaries. (n.d.). Maksym Chorny’s Personal Blog on WWII. https://war-documentary.info/eng/

All color photographs are mine, while all the black and white photos have been gathered from other sites.