In May 1713, Emperor Charles VI issued the Tolerance Edict, allowing Jews to settle in Silesia upon payment of a special tolerance tax. Taking advantage of this change of attitude, the first Jews began to settle down again in Żory. A Jewish community with a house of prayer was established around 1727.

The General Prussian Tables of 1787 mention the existence of a synagogue in Żory. The synagogue was very important in Upper Silesia, as it was attended by Jews from Rybnik, Wodzislaw and Pszczyna.

In 1791 in Żory lived 34 Jews in the town, and the entire Jewish community numbered 137 people. The number of Jews living in the city grew rapidly; as early as 1797 there were 152 people. In 1807, the first wooden synagogue burned down. In 1824, 167 Jews lived in the city, with the entire Jewish community then numbering 310. In 1835, a brick synagogue was built (at 3 Kosciuszki Street).

In 1846, the Żory community reached its maximum size - 542 Jews, who accounted for 13.5% of the total population. In 1846-1873, the rabbi in Żory was David Deutsch (born 1810 in Biała Prudnicka). He became famous for his numerous religious works.

The turn of the 19th and 20th centuries was characterised by the increased emigration to major German cities (Wroclaw, Berlin and others). As a result, 374 Jews (8.6% of the total population) remained in Żory in 1880. In the following years, this process intensified. In 1885, there were 330 Jews in the town, while there were only 98 in 1907.

After the end of World War I and the rebirth of the Polish state, the majority of Upper Silesian Jews strongly sided with Germany. In June 1922, Żory became part of Poland and in 1925 there were 30 Jews living in Żory (0.1% of the total population). In May 1940, all Jews from Żory were deported by the Germans to the ghetto in Będzin.

The Description

In Żory, a Jewish cemetery was established on wasteland of an area of 0.84 ha in mid-1814, purchased by Aron Wolf Bloch, a distiller. Prior to its establishment, the dead from that area were buried in Mikołów. The necropolis was located west of the road to Woszczyce (present Mikołowska Street), in the suburbs of Kleszczówka, northeast of the city centre. It is now located at the junction of Cmentarna and Dębowa streets - former dirt roads.

The first designated burial field had an area of 0.18 ha and was surrounded by a sandstone wall. With subsequent burials, the cemetery area was gradually expanded.

The first confirmed person buried in the cemetery in Żory was Hanel Wohl, who died on 9 May 1815 at the age of 60. In turn, the oldest gravestone discovered in the cemetery commemorates the wife of Aron Bloch, whose name is unknown and who died on 3 December 1819 at the age of 71.

Apart from the residents of Żory, Jews from more than twenty five locations - at that time mostly villages - were buried in the cemetery.

In 1834, the first funeral home was built at the entrance to the cemetery. In April 1875, preparations began to erect a larger facility. A committee was appointed to raise funds for that purpose. In the summer of 1886, a new funeral home was put into use, built according to the plans of the masonry master G. Gregeratzki from Żory. It was located in the south-eastern corner of the cemetery.

It is assumed that a total of around 1,000 people were laid to rest in the cemetery. One of the last people burried there might have been the twenty-four-year-old watchmaking apprentice Wolf Nuchym Erlich from Będzin, who died on the night of 1 to 2 April 1936.

At the outbreak of World War II, the necropolis was surrounded by a high wall, renovated in 1906. Its area was reduced to 0.56 ha due to the sale of a reserve area of 0.28 ha in the inter-war period, where a playground of a nearby primary school is located now. In January 1941, the cemetery was purchased by the city and closed on January 29 of the same year.

The cemetery survived the period of German occupation practically intact. Only in the funeral home - which was used as a storeroom for waste paper - the roof got damaged during military operations in early 1945.

After World War II, the cemetery that was left unattended gradually deteriorated. Some of the tombstones got destroyed, those made of more precious material got stolen. The pre-burial house was demolished, with only the foundations remaining.

In recent years, on the initiative of the municipal authorities, thorough cleaning works have been carried out at the cemetery and the wall has been repaired. The greenery in the cemetery is well-maintained, making the whole area easily accessible to the visitors. About 75 tombstones in various states of preservation survive.

Author of the note: Sławomir Pastuszka

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