Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

67 Headstones Damaged At Jewish Cemetery In Poland

(JTA) — Dozens of headstones were knocked down, with several destroyed, at a Jewish cemetery in Poland.

The incident, the third of its kind since 2015, happened on Saturday and left 67 graves desecrated in Bielsko-Biała, in southern Poland, according to the Zrzutka news site. Police have been notified and are investigating the incident. There are no suspects.

The Bielsko-Biala cemetery was founded in the first half of the 19th century and is still in use. Four Muslims who died during World War I  also are buried there.

In June 2000, a commemorative plaque was unveiled in the cemetery in honor of Bielsko-Biała Jews who died fighting for the Polish army in World War II.

Two incidents of vandalism were documented at the cemetery in 2015.

Last week in Poland, several children toppled 63 headstones of Jewish graves in Wroclaw because they wanted to use the slabs to build a fortress, they told police. The five 12-year-olds had been working on the project for several days at the disused graveyard in the western part of the country.

The post 67 headstones damaged at Jewish cemetery in Poland appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.