Jewish Cemetery in Pszczyna

The Jewish cemetery in Pszczyna on Katowicka Street is a necropolis founded in 1814, among the best preserved Jewish cemeteries in the Silesian Voivodeship. It covers 0.6 hectares and about 400 gravestones have survived on it.

History of the cemetery

The first burial took place in September 1814. Previously the Pszczyna Jewish community had buried its dead in Mikołów. A burial brotherhood was formed in 1830, and in 1888 the cemetery received a brick wall with decorative gates and a neo-Gothic funeral house designed by Ernst Betz. The cemetery survived the Second World War, and the last burial here took place in 2011.

What has survived on the site

Besides the gravestones, the brick wall with its gates and the funeral house remain. The largest monument, from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, is a basalt structure with two columns supporting a triangular pediment, belonging to Heinrich and Henriette Simon. Rabbis, merchants, doctors and municipal activists of the 19th and early 20th centuries are buried here. The cemetery was entered in the heritage register in 2021.

Practical information

• Address: Katowicka, Pszczyna. It is an active place of remembrance, so conduct appropriate to a cemetery is expected.
• Check the rules of entry with the town hall or the tourist information office before your visit.
• In the town you will also find the former synagogue, and the castle stands nearby.