JANOW LUBELSKI, Poland - Jewish cemeteries

There are two destroyed Jewish cemetery sites in Janow Lubelski. Based only on some brief research so far, it is unlikely there are many (if any) surviving gravestones:

1. The “old” Jewish cemetery, dating back to the 1600s, was demolished and is now a built-up part of Maja Street. The website sztetl.org.pl has a photo (https://sztetl.org.pl/en/towns/j/867-janow-lubelski/114-cemeteries/14421-jewish-cemetery-janow-lubelski-1-maja-street ) that looks like it could be (fallen) gravestones, but one of the government registration forms for the site (see translation below) says there are no tombstones left and no surface traces of the cemetery. More research is needed about this photo. I have contacted sztetl.org.pl to ask if they knew more about the photo.

   The same registration form also indicates that during the modern construction, “bones were extracted from the ground, collected in wooden boxes and buried in the area of the Christian cemetery, with permission of the church authorities; the place is not marked.” See (translated) image of the card below - it has other interesting information about the cemetery.

2. The “new” cemetery, on Wojska Polskiego Street, dates back to the early 1820s. Between 1942 and 1944, 300 Jews were executed here. Following are two interesting pages describing the cemetery site, its history during WWII and efforts to preserve/honor it: https://zapomniane.org/en/miejsce/janow-lubelski-2/ and https://zapomniane.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Reference-Points-EN-291121-s.pdf

   According to one site (https://sztetl.org.pl/en/towns/j/867-janow-lubelski/114-cemeteries/14432-jewish-cemetery-janow-lubelski-wojska-polskiego-street, three gravestones are visible, although the websites noted above make no mention of them. Further research is needed about this reference - it may refer to fragments of three gravestones shown in an older photograph: a Janow newsletter from 2013 states that in a register card in the provincial register, a picture from 1986 shows fragments of several stone tombstones, one of which was found in 1987 on the present Zamoyskiego St. and placed in the Catholic cemetery.

   At https://cja.huji.ac.il/browser.php?mode=set&id=49604, there is another description and history of the cemetery. It states that there is one overturned gravestone (there is a photo of it) and that “[t]he lower part of the wall and the bases of a few tombstones remain.”

   See map showing the location of the two cemeteries: http://cmentarze-zydowskie.pl/janow_lubelski_mapa.htm

   Below is the translated registration card with detailed information about the “old” cemetery.