Jewish cemeteries in Europe range from tiny village graveyards to sprawling city necropolises. Many of the larger urban cemeteries are noted for their elaborate family tombs — and also for monuments and mausolea designed by leading sculptors and architects.
In 2018, we highlighted some of the monuments Budapest Jewish cemeteries designed by the famed Hungarian Jewish architect Béla Lajta.
In this post, we highlight some of the dozens of monuments in Warsaw’s Okopowa St. Jewish cemetery that were designed by the pre-World War II sculptor Abraham Ostrzega, who was born in 1889 and killed at Treblinka during the Holocaust.
A decade ago, Poland’s Foundation for Cultural Heritage restored 24 grave monuments designed by Ostrzega. The restoration work was funded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, and the tombs were marked to form a sort of “Ostrzega trail” through the cemetery.
Ostrzega’s style reflected art deco and art nouveau influences, and he also employed the human figure — though he hid human faces. He used animal motifs (eagles, lions, snakes, dolphins….) as well as other decorative and architectural elements.
In 2017, the Zachęta – National Gallery of Art mounted an exhibition on Ostrzega and his work. “Famous for his tombstones, he himself became one of the thousands of victims without a grave,” Zachęta wrote in a description of the exhibition.
Some of the orange posts that mark the Ostrzega tombs have fallen down, but the Zacheta gallery posts a map with selected tombs designed by the artist that you can download a follow:
Here are a few of the tombs.
One of the most elaborate and bestknown is the so-called Mausoleum of the Three Writers that honors the great Yiddish writers I. L. Peretz, Jacob Dinezon, and S. An-sky. It was dedicated on May 10, 1925 to mark the 10th anniversary (yortsayt) of Peretz’s death. A ceremony was held in 2019 to mark Dinezon’s 100th yortsayt.
2 comments on “Poland: The sculptural pre WW2 tombs by the artist Abraham Ostrzega in Warsaw’s Okopowa Jewish Cemetery. Ostrzega was murdered in Treblinka”
my great zaidie name was Harry ostrzega. his daughter was Sarah but when they moved to Canada it changed to Susan. Harry was also a sculptor I have many in my house. Susan ( my Bubbie) survived the camps but the rest of the family did not. I was wondering if there was any relation or did Abraham have family or children that were related? does anyone know?
Thank you for showing the works of Abraham Ostrzega in Warsaw. I appreciate the present conservation efforts. Ostrzega had admirers, opponents (for showing the human figure) and imitators.