The photograph presents three men carrying the coffin on a metal stretcher. One of them is at the front of the coffin (on the right side of the photo), two of them are at the back (on the left side of the photo). The stretcher is covered by a dark cloth reaching almost to the ground. The coffin is made of wood. Edges of a white fabric trimmed with lace protrude from under the lid. The lid is decorated with strips of white lace attached along the edges. The man walking at the front of the coffin is wearing a short sheepskin coat and a fur cap. One of the men walking at the back of the coffin is holding the handles of the stretcher. The other man keeps his hands on the lid. The man holding the stretcher is wearing a dark (brown) jacket, glasses and a kippah. The man touching the lid is wearing a short sports jacket with a red stripe running down the sleeve and a fur hat. In the background, there are old matzevot and trees without leaves (the photo was taken in autumn or winter). | The photo was taken in 1983, during a burial at the Jewish cemetery at 49/51Okopowa Street in Warsaw. The cemetery, called the cemetery at Gęsia Street before the war, was established on the initiative of the Warsaw Jewish community in 1806. Chronologically, it is the third (after the cemetery established near the Old Town in the 15th century and the so-called Prague Jewish cemetery established in Bródno in 1780) Jewish cemetery in Warsaw. | After the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the cemetery was significantly damaged. In 1941, the German authorities decided to close it. The fence was dismantled, and the tombstones were used to pave the road in military camps near Warsaw and to build bunkers. It is worth mentioning that one of the cemetery plots (plot 41) served as a hiding place for at least six people at that time. | By resolution of the Presidium of the National Council of the Capital City of Warsaw of 27 July 1960, the cemetery was considered closed. It was only after the establishment of the Nissenbaum Family Foundation 1985, that the cemetery area was partially tidied up and a high fence was build around it. On 10 December 2012, pursuant to the Restitution Act, by the decision of the voivode of the Mazowiecke Province, the cemetery area located within the boundaries of the fence erected in 1930s, was handed over to the Jewish Community in Warsaw. | Marta Frączkiewicz
