The surviving fragment of the oldest gravestone found in the Jewish cemetery in Oswięcim, the town where the Auschwitz death camp is located, has been cleaned and preserved by Margrit Borman, a conservator at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial, writes Tomasz Kuncewicz, the director of the Auschwitz Jewish Center in Oswięcim.
The text indicates the person’s name and date of passing: Abraham Aba, son of Usher Zelig, who died Oct. 21, 1757.
The stone will be displayed as part of the new core exhibit at the Auschwitz Jewish Center to be opened in spring 2014. Called Oshpitzin (the Yiddish name of the town, which had a predominantly Jewish population before World War II), the exhibit will form a physical part of the Center’s broader Oshpitzin project — a book, web site, map and smartphone app that bring back an awareness of Oswięcim’s Jewish places and history.