Jewish cemetery in Miejsce

The Jewish cemetery in Miejsce can be found in the forest, on a small hill, around 1.5 km from the village boundaries. The entrance is marked by granite stones, but the cemetery has no wall or fence. The first mentions of the cemetery date back to 1675, and the oldest wooden matzevah was dated to 1771; however, it was lost during World War II and can now only be seen in a photograph.

The mentions of Jewish settlements in Miejsce are equally old, dating back to 1657. The cemetery was officially recognised as a Jewish burial site in 1787 when the local Jewish community purchased the plot of land where their family members had been buried. Sometime later, the cemetery was expanded and surrounded with a wall. A mourning hall, called Beit Tahara, was also built.

In the second half of the 19th century, mass migration of the Jews began and many inhabitants of Miejsce also left their homes. This significantly affected those who stayed as the local community was dissolved, but the cemetery was still in use. The last burial occurred in 1932, and in 1945 some of the tombstones were destroyed by warfare. After World War II, the situation of the cemetery did not improve: many matzevahs were removed, the wall around the cemetery was dismantled and the stones were re-used as building material by the locals. At the end of the 1990s the cemetery had 230 matzevahs, but this number has not been properly verified. Most of the tombstones were made with sandstone and marble; some still have typical ornaments, remains of polychromes, and inscriptions in Hebrew and German.