Old Jewish Cemetery, Cieszyn
| Jewish cemetery in Cieszyn | |
|---|---|
 General view of the cemetery | |
 | |
| Details | |
| Established | 1647 |
| Location | st. Hażlaska 39, Cieszyn |
| Country |  Poland |
| Coordinates | 49°45′23″N 18°37′43″E / 49.75639°N 18.62861°E |
| Type | Religious |
| Owned by | The Jewish Community in Bielsko-Biała |
| Size | 1.9 hectares |
Old Jewish Cemetery is one of two Jewish cemeteries in Cieszyn, Poland; together with New Jewish Cemetery. Situated on the Hażlaska Street 39, it is the oldest of them.
Land for the cemetery was purchased in 1647 and has since belonged to the Singer family.[1] In 1785 the cemetery was ceased to be a private property — sold to the Jewish community in Cieszyn. The last burial at the cemetery took place in 1928. In 1986 the cemetery was added to the register of monuments. The cemetery now belongs to the Jewish Community in Bielsko-Biała.[2]
To date,[2] the cemetery retains more than 1,500 graves. The cemetery has an area of 1.9 hectares and is surrounded by a brick fence.[3] It is claimed by local authors that the cemetery was established in the Middle Ages.[4]
History
Private cemetery of Singer family
The origins of the cemetery are associated with Jacob Singer - founder of the oldest Jewish house who lived permanently in Cieszyn. In 1631 he signed a lease agreement named "Cieszyn toll" with Princess Elizabeth Lucretia, and a account of instructions dated 23 April 1647 made him - a princely collector of taxes - with extensive privileges, such as the freedom to profess Judaism and acceptance of a device family cemetery for the deceased Singer.[5]
Jacob Singer purchased area of so called "Winogrady" in the same year from a townsman John Kraus. "Winogrady" became the nucleus of today's cemetery. Singer James was first buried on it but his grave has not survived to modern times. Following the edict of Charles VI in 1713 there was a tolerant of the Jewish population influx into the city and therefore the cemetery burials took place much more frequently than before. In the absence of burial sites, Singers bought the piece of land together with the house of John Faber in 1715, and a field piece from Susan Berisch in 1723.[6] The building obtained a embedded servant who looked after the cemetery.
At the time of Maria Theresa, cemetery was widely used by the Jews from Cieszyn and surrounding areas. In 1768 Singers (Singer Hirschel and his sister, Endel, widow of Jacob Oppenheimie) again enlarged the area of the cemetery through the purchase of an adjacent garden of a former folwark. They maintained a gravedigger during that period, and high charges were levied on the burial, although annually 20 poor Jews were buried on their own account with the addition of garb.[7]
Cemetery owned by the municipality
On 31 March 1785, Moses Hirschel Singer sold the area for 900 florins to 88 Jewish families in Cieszyn and since then it stopped being a private cemetery owned by the Singer family. The cemetery was constantly expanded - the plot of Paul Płoszka was purchased in 1802, and the exploited area of the quarry in 1836. Then the cemetery reached its final shape. Around 1820, a hospital was built at the cemetery for poor Jews, and in 1830, the cemetery was surrounded by a brick wall.[8] In the 2nd half of the nineteenth century, a funeral house, a flat for the guards and stables for horses and hearse were built, which still exist today. This building was a gift from Emanuel A. Ziffer - a railway specialist from Austria - and was dedicated to the memory of his parents, according to the board.[4]
References
- ^ Burchard gives the date of creation of the cemetery as 18th century
- ^ a b Data for the year 2009
- ^ Burchard specifies the number of preserved gravestones as about 500
- ^ a b Stary cmentarz żydowski (ul. Hażlaska). cieszyn.pl. Accessed December 24, 2011.
- ^ Janusz Spyra (ed.), op. cit p.8
- ^ Janusz Spyra (ed.), op. cit p. 30
- ^ J. Spyra, Old Jewish cemetery in Cieszyn, p. 94th
- ^ Janusz Spyra (ed.), op. cit p. 31
Bibliography
- Janusz Spyra, Stary cmentarz żydowski w Cieszynie [The old Jewish cemetery in Cieszyn], "Kalendarz Cieszyński 1997", Cieszyn 1996, p. 92-95
- Żydowskie zabytki Cieszyna i Czeskiego Cieszyna [Jewish monuments of Cieszyn and Český Těšín] edited by Janusz Spyra, 1999 ISBN 83-908299-8-3
- Żydzi w Polsce. Dzieje i kultura – leksykon [The Jews in Poland. The history and culture-encyclopedia], 2001, ISBN 83-86859-58-X
- Burchard Przemysław (1990). Souvenirs and Jewish monuments in Poland. Warsaw. pp. 199–200.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
External links
