Photo showing Renaissance-era masonry tombstones among trees – matzevot in the old section of the Jewish cemetery at Słowackiego Street in Przemyśl.
The Jewish community in Przemyśl owned two cemeteries. The first was founded in the mid-16th century. It was located outside of the city walls, in the Podgórze suburb (today’s Rakoczego Street). It ceased to exist during the Nazi occupation. The Germans vandalised and destroyed the Old Cemetery, using the matzevot as construction material in repairs of local roads and bridges. The tombstones have been preserved only in archival photos forming part of the collection of the National Museum of Przemyśl. After the war, residential buildings were erected on a portion of the old cemetery premises, while the rest of the plot was converted into allotments. The only surviving trace of the cemetery is the entrance gate.
As the space in the old cemetery filled up, the Jewish community was forced to establish another necropolis. The New Cemetery was located outside of the city, on the hill slope along Słowackiego Street. The owner of the plot was the Jewish Religious Community, which financed its maintenance and expansions. On the side of Słowackiego Street, the cemetery was surrounded by a wall, with an impressive gate constructed in 1913. Some 300 matzevot dating back to the late 19th and the early 20th century have been preserved to the present day. During World War II and after its end, victims of Nazi crimes were buried in mass graves in the cemetery. The tragic fate of the Jewish community has been commemorated with numerous monuments and tombstones of people killed in the Holocaust.
