New Jewish Cemetery in Jelenia Góra

The New Jewish Cemetery in Jelenia Góra is a burial ground established in 1879, today largely built over and preserved only in fragments. After its closure in 1974 and the construction of a hotel on part of the site, only a few damaged gravestones survived.

History of the cemetery

The cemetery was established in 1879. In 1910 its grounds were enlarged, eventually covering 0.53 hectares. During the Third Reich it escaped devastation, although this did not spare it in the post-war years. After 1945 only a few more burials took place there, and as late as the 1960s a funeral home and a fence still stood on the site.

Closure and building over the site

In 1974 the authorities decided to close the cemetery. At the turn of the 1980s and 1990s a hotel was built on part of its grounds, which irreversibly changed the layout of the former necropolis.

Present condition

As a result of the devastation, only a few damaged gravestones have survived to this day. This is a place of remembrance for the Jewish community of Jelenia Góra, not a tourist attraction in the usual sense, and it is worth approaching it with appropriate respect.

Practical information

The cemetery lies close to the historic centre of the town, near the Castle Gate Tower and the Cyprian Kamil Norwid Theatre in Jelenia Góra.

• Address: Sudecka Street, Jelenia Góra (exact number and plot boundaries to be checked on site)
• Getting there: on foot or by public transport from the centre of Jelenia Góra
• What to expect: a partly built-over site, with no tourist infrastructure, a few surviving, damaged gravestones