Jewish Cemeteries in Cieszyn

On Hażlaska Street in Cieszyn, a few hundred metres apart, lie two Jewish cemeteries. The older, founded in 1647, is among the oldest Jewish burial grounds in Poland and one of the few that remained in continuous use for more than 250 years; over 1,500 gravestones survive. The new one opened in 1907, when the old one ran out of space. Together they tell the story of a community that helped shape the town for three centuries.

A tax collector's private cemetery

The cemetery's origins are linked to Jakub Singer, founder of the oldest Jewish family to settle permanently in Cieszyn and the duchy's toll collector. An instruction issued by Duchess Elizabeth Lucretia on 23 April 1647 allowed him to establish a burial ground for members of his family and household. Singer bought land on a slope known as "the Vineyards" from the burgher Jan Kraus and was the first to be buried there, although his gravestone has not survived. The oldest surviving matzevot date from the late 17th century and commemorate the Singers and the related Ziffer family.

After Emperor Charles VI's edict of toleration of 1713, other Jews were buried here too, and the Singers bought additional land several times – burying the poor at their own expense. In 1785 the cemetery passed to the Jewish community of the whole Cieszyn Silesia region. It eventually covered about 1.9 ha, and in the second half of the 19th century a funeral house was built, partly funded by Emanuel A. Ziffer, a Cieszyn native and one of Austria's leading railway engineers.

What to see in the old cemetery (Hażlaska 39)

The matzevot stand on a wooded slope. On the older ones the inscriptions are in Hebrew and were often painted; German predominates on the newer stones. The only Polish inscription is on the monument to Dawid Bergson, a Warsaw merchant who died while passing through Cieszyn in 1885. Rabbis of Cieszyn, including Juda Lejb Glücklich and Dr Simon Friedmann, community presidents and the ancestors of Rabbi Jecheskiel Paneth are buried here. In spring 1945 the Germans executed 81 hostages here, among them 18 Czech scouts from Ostrava – a plaque unveiled in 1996 on the funeral house commemorates them.

The new cemetery

The community bought land above the old cemetery in 1898, but neighbours' protests delayed construction until a court in Vienna ruled in its favour. The 1.14-hectare cemetery, with a gate decorated with Stars of David, opened on 25 June 1907; its funeral house was designed by the Viennese architect Jakob Gartner. Look for the Glesinger family tomb with a relief of a mountain landscape at sunset by the Swedish artist Otto Jarl. After the war many obelisks were stolen, and the last burial took place in 1961.

Tripto tip

The old cemetery has been on the heritage register since 1986 and belongs to the Jewish Community of Bielsko-Biała. Access depends on the custodian, so check current arrangements in Cieszyn before your visit. Keep quiet, do not touch the gravestones and do not step on graves; in line with Jewish custom, men cover their heads. Allow about an hour for both cemeteries – the old stone is fragile and the slope can be slippery after rain. The walk is easy to extend to the old town and Castle Hill.