07.03.2020 | Redaktor

Jewish cemeteries in Brzesko

As you know, there were 2 Jewish cemeteries in Brzesko: an old one (currently a parking lot opposite the city hall) and a new one (on Czarnowiejska Street). The old cemetery was most probably founded in the 17th century, but after it had been overfilled at the beginning of the 19th century, tBrzesko Jewish community bought a plot of land for the new cemetery, further from the city center. You can read more about the history of both cemeteries at our website, this article is based on Mrs Zawidzka book: https://brzesko-briegel.pl/en/history-of-cemeteries/
But now I would like to share with you some new data I’ve recently found.
There exists a very accurate map of Brzesko from 1847 (you can find it at the website szukajwarchiwach.pl), on which both cemeteries are marked.
The map of the new cemetery, which in 1847 occupied a small part of the present territory, seems particularly interesting. According to Mrs. Zawidzka, it was not until 1902 that the Brzesko Jewish comminity asked the commune council to withdraw part of the municipal land adjacent to the cemetery to increase the burial place, and a year later the entire area of the enlarged cemetery was fenced with a wall.
As far as I know, it has not yet been established where the pre-burial house of Brzesko Jews had been located. However, this map of the cemetery from 1847 and the death record of Jakob Lieberman. “a gravedigger in the Jewish community” indicate that the building could have been inside the cemetery – as was the case in many Galician Jewish cemeteries.
The map shows a small building marked pink right by the border of the cemetery, and Jakob Lieberman’s death record (1896) states that he lived in a house without a number at the cemetery.

Anna Brzyska, March 2020

Old Jewish cemetery in Brzesko, 1847
Present-day photo with the area of the old Jewish cemetery marked on it.
Monument commemorating people buried at the old Jewish cemetery in Brzesko
New Jewish cemetery, 1847. Pink rectangle most likely marks the house where gravedigger lived and where the pre-burial house might have been located
New Jewish cemetery at the present-day map (dark green). Area marked with red marker shows the area of the cemetery in 1847.
Death record of Jakob Lieberman, gravedigger in Brzesko; scan of the vital record comes from szukajwarchiwach.pl website