Jewish Cemetery, Białystok
The Jewish Cemetery in Wschodnia street, Białystok (Podlaskie Voivodeship, Poland) was created in 1891, after the closure of the old cemetery, the Rabbinic Cemetery, on Kalinowskiego Street. The Jewish cemetery is a listed heritage monument.
| Banówka Cemetery Cemetery in Wschodnia Street | |
|---|---|
Main entrance to the cemetery | |
| Details | |
| Established | 1891 |
| Closed | 17 July 1973 |
| Location | |
| Country | Poland |
| Coordinates | 53.1502°N 23.1962°E |
| Type | Civil |
| Owned by | Białystok Jewish Community |
| Size | 12.5 ha |
| No. of interments | 6,000 (est.) |
This is the only surviving Jewish cemetery in Białystok and one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in Northeastern Poland. The brick boundary wall encloses an area of 12.5 hectares, which contains around 6,000 Matzevah – the oldest of which dates to the year 1891. The matzevoth are made of marble, granite, limestone, and sandstone. There are inscriptions in Hebrew, Yiddish, Polish, Russian, and German.
The foundations of two buildings are found on the cemetery grounds just inside the main entrance: the Tahara house and the house of the warden and gravedigger. The last burial took place in 1969. On 17 July 1973, the cemetery was closed.
There is a monument in the cemetery commemorating around 90 Jews who died in a pogrom undertaken by the Russians in 1906, which was unveiled before the Second World War. The names of the victims in this pogrom are carved on black stone. This monument also records the names of victims of two massacres in 1905.