Objects

Photograph of the former Jewish cemetery in Osieczna

The Jewish Community Council in Osieczna was classified as a smaller community, with no more than 200-250 members. Its origins date back to the first half of the 17th century and settlement was concentrated in a district located on the shores of Łoniewskie Lake. A synagogue was erected there and a cemetery established, which remained in operation until the end of the 19th century. (E. Frankiewicz, Osieczna. Zarys historyczny, Leszno 1939, pp. 45–46).

After 1920, the abandoned cemetery – the last burial took place in April 1900 – was taken care of by the local authorities. In the late 1930s, it was decided to dismantle the fence and remove the gravestones, which were placed at the back of the necropolis. During the German occupation, due to the expansion of the adjacent road, the old-growth forest was cut down and the soil was pushed away from the cemetery towards the lake. The matzevot were transported and used as building material. In the 1950s and 1960s, several single-family houses were built on the cemetery grounds and home gardens were established (D. Czwojdrak, Żydowskie nagrobki z Osiecznej, “Zeszyty Osieckie” 2004, pp. 32–45).

The view of the cemetery hill is captured in several photographs and postcards from the first half of the 20th century. A photograph in the collection of the District Museum in Leszno shows the cemetery area from the west. They were made in winter and spring or autumn and winter. This is evidenced by small amounts of snow and puddles after snowmelt or rainfall.

On the hill you can see the accumulated building material – sand and bricks – and in the depths the roofs of the buildings, standing on neighbouring plots. The boundary of the former cemetery is marked by shrubs growing along what is now Podgórna Street (ul. Podgórna), with single fruit trees growing in the area. On the reverse of the photograph is a handwritten description: “1958/ Site of the former cemetery/ Jewish cemetery in Osieczna.”

The photograph was donated to the Judaic Department in 1994 by Norbert Dudziak from Osieczna. The owner obtained it during his own searches around the town and interviews with residents. Dudziak was a caretaker of Osieczna monuments and one of the organisers of the construction of the memorial wall, in which the matzevot from the Osieczna cemetery he found were placed.

Dariusz Czwojdrak

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Information about the object
Author / creator
unknown
Object type
photography
Time of creation / dating
3rd quarter of the 20th century
Place of creation
Osieczna (Wielkopolskie Province)
Technique
print
Material
paper
Keywords
Copyrights status
the object is not protected by copyright law
Owner
Local Museum in Leszno
Identification number
MLI/IP/15