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Copied from https://iajgscemetery.org/eastern-europe/poland/leszno
The Jewish cemetery in Leszno established in 1626, originally was located outside urban areas at today's ul. Jana Pawła II number 14 and was operated by the Jewish community until 1939. The cemetery was completely devastated by the Nazis during WWII. Thousands of destroyed gravestones were used as rubble for the construction of roads. After 1945, the cemetery was neglected. In the 1970s, the cemetery retained only a small fragment of its size and two buildings: the gravedigger residence and the mortuary house from the end of the 19th century. For the last many years, it was used...
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Copied from https://iajgscemetery.org/eastern-europe/poland/leszno
The Jewish cemetery in Leszno established in 1626, originally was located outside urban areas at today's ul. Jana Pawła II number 14 and was operated by the Jewish community until 1939. The cemetery was completely devastated by the Nazis during WWII. Thousands of destroyed gravestones were used as rubble for the construction of roads. After 1945, the cemetery was neglected. In the 1970s, the cemetery retained only a small fragment of its size and two buildings: the gravedigger residence and the mortuary house from the end of the 19th century. For the last many years, it was used for electroplating. In 1992, a mortuary house was entered in the register of historic buildings and from 1993-2004 housed the Department Judaistyczny District Museum in Leszno. Then the museum held about four hundred gravestones/matzevot from Jewish cemeteries in Leszno (352), Borku Wlkp (15) and Rydzyny (2). The oldest of gravestone found is from 1700, more than thirty gravestones date from the 18th century, and the others from the 19th and 19th centuries. The Regional Museum in Leszno for many years made considerable effort to preserve historic Leszno buildings of Jewish culture to ensure the tangible heritage left by the Jewish people in Leszna. Several years ago, creation of the Judaist branch in the building of the burial house to promote learning about Jewish culture and art has been recognized by the Ministry of Culture and Arts. In 1993, the museum facility was awarded "The Most Interesting Museum Event of 1993 " for the renovated and adapted burial house museum. A torah scroll temporary exhibition was organized by the museum. In 2005, "Nasi Bracia Starsi" - "Our Elder Brothers" exhibited paintings, drawings, and graphic art from the collections of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw. In 2004, prints and paintings of Jewish themes by Lila Fijałkowska, a graduate of the Moscow Academy of Fine Arts, exhibited. "Wielkopolscy Rabbis-- In the Circle of the Jewish tradition" examined the achievement of Jewish thought in the field of philosophical investigations as well as theological and historical elements. Photos. [May 2009]
The Jewish cemetery in Leszno, Poland was visited on 24 July 1997. The former caretaker's house is now part of a regional museum system devoted to the history of the area's former Jewish population. The grounds were well kept. An effort is underway to expand the museum, to develop at lE a portion of the cemetery as a memorial garden. Several gravestones have been located and pieces of a number of others have been collected. Leszno was the birthplace in 1740 of Haym Salomon who immigrated to New York in 1772. He subsequently joined the Sons of Liberty and played a vital part in the success of the Revolutionary War working closely with Robert Morris, the Minister of Finance, in raising funds for the war effort. A commemorative stamp was issued in Salomon's memory in 1975. A statute of Haym Salomon with George Washington and Robert Morris has been placed in Herald Square, Wacker Drive in Chicago. During our visit to the museum, two very cooperative attendants were present but the curator was not working. They arranged for us to meet him in the nearby town of Wschowa where he lived. He led us to another Jewish cemetery in an isolated rural area close to a nearby village. (This latter restored cemetery was in relatively good shape except for vegetation.) The curator of the Leszno museum is Dariusz Czwojdrak, who prepared the 29 Oct 1991 survey of the Leszno cemetery that appears next. Mr. Czwojdrak asked for help in locating descendants of those interred in this cemetery to obtain permission to use the land as art of the museum. In the meantime, the museum is looking for additional articles for its collection. Articles concerning Haym Salomon are also lacking. The museum address for Mr.Czwojdrak is: Dariusz Czwojdrak, Muzeum Okregowe, Dzial Judaistyczny, ul. Estkowskiego 2, 64-100 Leszno, Poland. Prepared and names sent by Scott Clark, Professor of Environmental Health, University of Cincinnati, PO Box 670056, Cincinnati, Ohio 45267-0056, tel: (513)-558-1749, fax: (513)-558-2722, [email protected] |
