In 1368, Duchess Agnieszka granted the Jews of Jawor a privilege that was to protect them against 'all violence, against violation of body and property', and two years later she issued a letter of protection concerning the Jewish population living in Jawor, Dzierżoniów, Niemcza and Strzegom.

In 1420, a ban was issued on Jews staying in the town, and in 1438, Emperor Albert II donated the destroyed synagogue to the town, instructing the town council to transform it into a church. In 1446, the conversion into the chapel of St. Adalbert was completed; from then on, the synagogue served as a hospital chapel (however, Maria and Kazimierz Piechotka do not agree with this concept, claiming that the chapel was probably built on the site of the former synagogue ). The building has survived to the present day and is located on Stefana Czarnieckiego street.

Jews returned to Jawor only in the early 19th century. Due to their small numbers, they never established an independent synagogue community and never built a synagogue. The city's Jewish inhabitants were organisationally subordinated to the Synagogue Community in Legnica, which became the center of religious life for the Jews of Jawor. In 1849, there were 109 Jews living in Jawor, and in 1884 their number increased to 128.

In the early 1940s, Jews from Jawor were deported to the so-called transit camps for Jews from Lower Silesia in Prędocice, Krzeszów and Rybna, and then from Wrocław they were sent to German Nazi concentration camps and extermination sites - including Auschwitz, Treblinka, to the extermination camps in the east and to Theresienstadt.

After World War II, a large group of Polish Jews settled in Jawor; in July 1946 there were 1,056 of them living there. Many organisations and institutions were established in the city, the most important of which were played by the Jewish committee and the congregation of the Jewish faith, which was responsible for organizing religious life. The end of the Jewish community came after 1950, when autonomous Jewish organisations were liquidated and the city's Jewish residents decided to emigrate.

The Description

The establishment of the first Jewish cemetery in Jawor is associated with the decree of the Prussian authorities from 1814 regarding burial places for people of the Mosaic faith. There was a provision prohibiting the transport of bodies over a distance of more than two miles. Due to the above, Jewish families living further from the cemetery were obliged to create their own burial plot under the threat of expulsion from their place of residence. In reference to this legal act, in 1816 the authorities of the regency sent a letter to the Jawor municipality asking about the way of arranging burial places for the Jewish population in Jawor. At that time, the city was inhabited by only one Jewish family, which was officially obliged to purchase suitable land for establishing a cemetery within 6 months. As this was beyond its financial capabilities, the city authorities finally leased an area of 90 square rods to the Jews for the amount of three thalers per year. In 1835, representatives of the Jews of Jawor asked the city authorities to give them the burial area because they wanted to establish an independent Jewish community. Soon, the Jewish community submitted a request to the town hall to purchase an additional piece of land called 'Hoefler's garden' and adjacent to the cemetery. Unfortunately, the location of the first Jewish cemetery still remains unknown. It is only known that its location was problematic for the city authorities - although it was 2,000 steps away from the city walls, it was only 37 steps away from the nearest buildings. This fact is probably related to the closure of this necropolis and the establishment of a new Jewish cemetery in Jawor, which took place in the 1850s or 1860s at Neisseufer (today's Głucha street).

In the 1940's the ownership of the Jewish cemetery in Jawor was transferred to the Association of Jews in Germany, and after the liquidation of this organization on 24 June 1943, it became the property of the state treasury, represented by the district tax office in Jawor. During this period, 16 Soviet prisoners and workers who died in prisoner-of-war camps and Jawor field hospitals were buried in the cemetery. The area of the necropolis at the time was 523 sq m. In June 1944, the cemetery, complete with the tombstones there, was sold to the city of Jawor. The property was then valued at RM 1,000 (Reichsmark).

After World War II, the necropolis became a burial ground for Polish Jews who settled in the city. On October 4, 1946, on the eve of Yom Kippur, a ceremony of tallis burial took place at the Jewish cemetery in Jawor. These ritual objects were previously collected in Bolków and were certainly the property of the town's Jewish inhabitants. This burial, in accordance with Jewish tradition, also had a propaganda character - as a 'burial of the remains of Nazi crimes.' The event atttended by 150 people was was organised by the County Committee of Polish Jews in Jawor and the Jewish Religious Congregation. During the ceremony, the amount of PLN 2,755 was collected, which was supposed to be used to fund a tombstone. The Jewish cemetery in Jawor was closed on the basis of the decision of the Provincial Office in Wrocław on April 9, 1974.

Currently, the necropolis is located in the southwestern part of the city, on the left bank of the Nysa Szalona River and covers an area of about 0.2 ha. By 1988, 40 tombstones had been preserved on its premises, the oldest of which was from 1864. Today, the cemetery is assigned to Czesława Miłosza street. It is estimated that approx. 50 matzevas and tombstones, including burials after 1945. The cemetery is surrounded by a wall – partly made of rubble stone, partly made of prefabricated concrete slabs. In 1990 it was entered into the register of monuments under number A/1906/836/L.

Author of the note: Tamara Włodarczyk

References

• Fisher, Ch. F. E., Geschichte und Beschreibung der schlesischen Fürstenthums-haupstadt Jauer, vol. 1, Jauer 1803.
• Piechotka, M., Piechotka, K., Bramy Nieba. Bóżnice murowane na ziemiach dawnej Rzeczypospolitej, Warsaw 1999.
• Pogrzeb pozostałości hitlerowskich zbrodni w Jaworze, 'Nowe Życie. Trybuna Wojewódzkiego Komitetu Żydowskiego na Dolnym Śląsku' 1946, no. 8.
• Połomski, F., Zawłaszczenie i sprzedaż cmentarzy żydowskich w latach II wojny światowej na Śląsku. Ze studiów nad prawem własności w III Rzeszy, 'Acta Universitatis Wratislaviensis', no. 815 (Studia nad Faszyzmem i Zbrodniami Hitlerowskimi, vol. XI).
• Schönaich, G., Die alte Fürstenhaupstadt Jauer, Jauer 1903.
• Ziątkowski, L., Żydzi w Jaworze / Žide w Jaworu, Jawor 2010.

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