The long-time rabbi in the years 1889–1925 was Szaja Szajnfrut.

In the interwar period, there were Jewish factories, a mill and shops in the town; The Jewish Cooperative Credit Bank operated there. In 1929, the municipality had a population of 3,500 Jews. Their numbers began to decrease in the following years due to emigration.

Following the outbreak of World War II, Miechów became part of the General Government. The German occupation authorities started persecution of the Jewish population. They were forced to pay contributions and do forced labor. In 1941, the Germans established a ghetto. They liquidated it a year later, deporting Jews to German Nazi extermination camps in Sobibór, Bełżec and Treblinka. They left only a group of 35 prisoners in the town. They ordered them to tidy up the former ghetto and then murdered them at the local Jewish cemetery.

The Description

The Jewish cemetery in Miechów was established in 1882, on a plot of land that is now located at Stefana Żeromskiego 116. Over time, a funeral home was built there, which also housed the caretaker's apartment. During the occupation during World War II, the necropolis was devastated and the gravestones were used by the Germans to pave roads.

Currently, the area of the Jewish cemetery in Miechów is fenced with a metal fence with a gate placed between brick posts on the foundation, adorned with a Star of David. Information boards from the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland (FODŻ) were placed on the poles. Only a fragment of one of the tombstones and the building of the pre-burial home have survived in the necropolis. At the fringes of the cemetery there is also a fenced collective grave of 35 Jews murdered in 1942, including Rachela Strosberg.

Author of the note: Magda Lucima

Właściciel praw autorskich do opisu: Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich POLIN.