Jewish Cemetery in Krynki

In 1897 nearly 85% of Krynki's five thousand inhabitants were Jewish, and what remains of that community today is above all a hill on the northern edge of town. The cemetery on Zaułek Zagumienny Street covers about 2.5 ha, and in the late 1980s more than 3,000 gravestones were counted here. Despite later destruction it is still the burial ground with the largest number of surviving matzevot (Jewish headstones) in the Podlasie region, and one of the most important places of Jewish memory on the Polish-Belarusian borderland.

History: from a royal privilege to the Holocaust

The first Jews, probably from Grodno, settled in Krynki around the turn of the 17th century. In 1639 King Władysław IV granted them a privilege allowing them to buy plots, build houses, trade, distil alcohol, build a synagogue and a mikveh, and found a cemetery. King John Casimir confirmed these rights in 1662, though it is not known exactly when the cemetery was laid out. In 1691 the Krynki community became independent of the Grodno kehilla, and in the 18th century it was one of the larger ones in the region.

In the 19th century Jewish entrepreneurs turned Krynki into a centre of textiles and tanning, but fires in 1879, 1882 and 1887 held back the town's growth. In June 1941 the Germans fired on Jews gathered in a field outside town, killing about 40 people, who were buried here in mass graves. The occupiers vandalised the cemetery and had many matzevot torn out for use as building material, partly for the construction of a dairy.

What to see

• The old section in the south-eastern part of the hill, with matzevot standing in a loose arrangement.
• The newer section, probably laid out after 1840 and separated by a path, with regular rows of graves.
• Matzevot in different materials: conglomerate, granite, sandstone and concrete, often with richly carved lettering typical of Ashkenazi Jews.
• Remains of the stone wall that once surrounded the site, with the former entrance on the south side.
• An information board put up in 2008 by the local "Drumla" association.

Interesting facts

The oldest identified gravestone commemorates Chaim, son of Benjamin, who died in 1758 according to the heritage register (other sources give 1750). In 1947 Holocaust survivors organised the exhumation of about 40 victims of an execution carried out by the Germans during Passover 1943. The wartime mass graves remain unmarked to this day. The cemetery was entered in the heritage register on 30 December 1987 (no. A-115), and the Foundation for Documentation of Jewish Cemeteries publishes an online list of the surviving gravestones.

Tripto tip

This is a cemetery and a place of remembrance, not a museum: there is no ticket office, exhibition or opening hours. It is cared for by the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland and is regularly cleaned up by local volunteers and school groups, but in summer the grass can be tall and the wall is partly ruined. Wear sturdy shoes, do not step on graves and do not move stones. Following Jewish custom, you may place a small pebble on a matzevah. Allow 30–45 minutes, and combine the visit with the former synagogue of the Slonim Hasidim in Krynki, a small town on the border with Belarus.