Clean-up and restoration work starts Aug. 1 in the Jewish cemetery in Myslowice, in southern Poland, thanks to pressure on municipal authorities by local citizens and activists, writes the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper.
The cemetery situated on ul. Gwarków is one of two such cemeteries in the city. The first was founded in the eighteenth century, but it was razed to the ground, and in its place was built a road and square. – Probably the bodies of the dead are still here – says Dariusz Walerjański, a historian who has since the 90s taken care of Jewish cemeteries in Silesia.
Although fenced and locked, people used it as a dump. People throw out old furniture and other things here, says Walerjański. Most tombstones were broken, some splashed with paint. Some were painted with satanic symbols.
Walerjański met at the cemetery with councilors, the municipal police commander and the local monument preservationists. They found that, first, you need to remove all the weeds that have completely overgrown in the cemetery. – In the end you will see how much you really are tombstones. I estimate that there about 90 overturned, and now maybe 10 are visible – Walerjański says.
Cleaning starts on August 1. Then a plan will be drawn up of the cemetery by social workers and they will be able to renovate the tombstones.”