Historical Jewish Sites in Zakopane

Jewish Cemetery in Czarny Dunajec: The Jewish cemetery in Czarny Dunajec was established in the second half of the 19th century. It is located on the road out of Czarny Dunajec towards Rabka. The cemetery was almost completely ruined during World War II and further desecrated after the war. Most of the gravestones were stolen. In 2020, the cemetery was restored thanks to the Popiel family foundation „Centrum,” which carried out the „People, Not Numbers” project.

The cemetery was fenced, and a broken matzevah was erected in its central part to commemorate victims from 15 towns. The monument bears the inscription: „In memory of the victims of the Holocaust from Czarny Dunajec, Chochołów, Ciche, Czerwienne, Dzianisz, Miętustwo, Odrowąż, Pieniążkowice, Podczerwone, Podszkle, Ratułów, Stare Bystre, Witów, Wróblówka, Załuczne and the murdered prisoners of the labor camp in Czarny Dunajec.”

The cemetery also features six educational and informational boards providing basic information about the fate of the Jewish community. In the northern part, a funeral house probably stood, where ritual washing and prayers were performed before burial. The western part of the cemetery is older, and several dozen gravestones in four rows of graves have been discovered there. The eastern part, added later, contains mass graves from 1942.

The restoration project included creating a memorial, listing the names of Jewish residents of Czarny Dunajec and surrounding areas, and preserving the mass graves. Several gravestones recovered from the surrounding area were restored and placed in the cemetery.

By including these historical sites in your visit, you can gain a deeper understanding of the rich Jewish heritage that once thrived in Zakopane and its surrounding areas.