Jewish Cemetery in Wilamowice

The Jewish cemetery in Wilamowice, in the Skoczów municipality, was established in 1891 as a burial place for the Jews of Skoczów. It covers about a hectare, and about twenty of the original gravestones survive. It is listed in the heritage register.

The fate of the cemetery

The oldest surviving gravestone dates from the year of the founding and commemorates Perel Zabarski. During the Second World War the cemetery was devastated by the Germans, and the gravestone slabs went to the Jeikner firm, before the war owned by the Jewish Szancer family of Skoczów. After the war some of the gravestones returned to the site thanks to relatives of the buried, and the remaining matzevot were brought in the autumn of 1958 after the intervention of Leopold Rozenthal. When the last Jews left Skoczów, the necropolis began to fall into ruin, and the town authorities considered closing it down. The funeral house was demolished at that time.

The cemetery today

In 1996 the cemetery was tidied, and the surviving gravestones were arranged in a double circle around a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. On the grounds of the necropolis there also grows a natural monument established in 1995, an avenue of twelve lime trees 25 metres tall.

Practical information

• Address: ul. Ptasia 2, Wilamowice in the Skoczów municipality.
• This is a burial place, so the rules of conduct appropriate to cemeteries apply. Check whether the site is open with the town office in Skoczów.
• In Skoczów stands the Church of Sts Peter and Paul the Apostles.