Jewish Cemetery in Łódź

Behind a red-brick wall in the Bałuty district lies a forest of matzevot (Jewish headstones), mausoleums and old trees. The Jewish Cemetery on Bracka Street opened in 1892 and is one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in Europe. It covers about 40 hectares, and more than 160,000 people are buried here – from the factory owners who built industrial Łódź to tens of thousands of victims of the ghetto.

History: a cemetery of industrialists and of the ghetto

By the late 19th century the old Jewish cemetery on Wesoła Street was full. In 1891 the industrialist Izrael Poznański bought more than 10 hectares from Juliusz Heinzel for a new burial ground, and on 10 November 1892 the synagogue board announced the opening of the Bracka Street cemetery. In 1898 Poland's largest pre-burial house was built here, with a footprint of 850 m², to a design by Adolf Zeligson. It was funded by Mina Konstadt, who gave 18,000 roubles.

During the German occupation the cemetery lay inside the Litzmannstadt Ghetto. More than 40,000 people who died of hunger, disease and exhaustion were buried in the Ghetto Field, most of them without headstones. More than 600 Roma and Sinti from the so-called Gypsy camp inside the ghetto also lie somewhere in the cemetery. It has been a listed monument since 1980 and a Historic Monument of Poland since 2015.

What to see

• The mausoleum of Izrael Poznański on the main avenue – regarded as the largest Jewish tomb in the world and the only one decorated with mosaic. The mosaic inside the dome was restored as part of work carried out since the 1990s.
• The pre-burial house – bodies of men were prepared for burial on the right side, women on the left. A metal table for ritual washing of the dead has survived.
• The plots along the main avenue with family tombs of industrialists, including the Silberstein, Prussak, Kohn and Jarociński families.
• The Ghetto Field and the 1956 memorial to the ghetto's victims, shaped as an obelisk, a menorah and a broken oak.
• The graves of the parents of the poet Julian Tuwim and the pianist Arthur Rubinstein.

Interesting facts

For decades a small grave with a red star on the main avenue was a mystery. It was labelled as the grave of a Red Army doctor, Róża Deweltow. Only in 2014 was she identified as a Jewish woman from Vilnius killed in 1944, whose mother, a camp survivor, had her body moved to Łódź in 1950. More than 8,000 trees grow in the cemetery, mostly self-seeded, and they are home to many birds and bats. In 2009 a memorial trail was laid out linking the cemetery with Radegast station, from where Jews of the ghetto were deported to the death camps.

Tripto tip

The visitors' entrance is on Zmienna Street, and there is an admission charge. The cemetery is open Sunday to Friday. It is closed on Saturdays and Jewish holidays, and closes earlier in winter and on Fridays. Check exact hours before your visit with the Jewish Community of Łódź, which manages the site. Men should cover their heads, and clothing should suit a place of burial. Allow 1.5–2 hours for the main avenue, the mausoleum and the Ghetto Field. Wear comfortable shoes, as the side paths are uneven and overgrown. Combine the visit with Radegast Station, reached by the memorial trail.