The year when the Jewish cemetery at Okopowa 49 was formed. It is the resting place of many prominent political activists, creators of Jewish culture, spiritual leaders, representatives of many generations of Warsaw’s Jewish community and those who contributed a lot to Poland’s independence, but also of thousands of nameless victims of the Warsaw Ghetto.
cemetery history
1806
85 000
The number of tombstones found at the cemetery. 80 thousand among them have had their inscriptions inventoried. Based on the number of gravestones, it is the biggest Jewish cemetery in Europe.
1973
This is the year when the cemetery became listed in the register of historic monuments under item number 847. Now, it is managed by and remains under the care and supervision of the Masovia Province Monument Protection Office.
33,5 ha
This is the surface area of the cemetery. The Okopowa cemetery is one of the biggest Jewish necropoleis in Poland.
2014
The moment when the Jewish cemetery at Okopowa was declared a historic monument by the President of the Republic of Poland – along with five other cemeteries in the Powązki area, all listed collectively under the name of “Warsaw – a complex of historic religious cemeteries of Powązki”.
perpetual fund
Cemetery rescue project
In December 2017, the Sejm and the Senate passed adopted the Act of 8 December 2017 on awarding a grant supplementing the endowment fund of the Cultural Heritage Foundation. The document granted the Cultural Heritage Foundation an endowment in the amount of 100 million zloty, with the profit resulting from the investments made using the obtained financial support to be allotted to maintaining the cemetery. After the President of the Republic of Poland signed the act on 22 December 2017, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the Cultural Heritage Foundation concluded an agreement specifying the principles of investing and spending the profits made on investing the endowment fund resources
These resources may be invested only in so-called secure financial instruments, and the generated profit is to be settled annually at the Ministry of Culture, according to the relevant law. The works carried out at the cemetery will be performed on the basis of a lasting agreement between the Jewish Community of Warsaw and the Cultural Heritage Foundation. The entire endowment was invested in PKO Liquidity – specialized open-end investment fund, managed by PKO Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych S.A., and is now seen to generate profit.
restoration
The cemetery has a great historic and artistic value. It is a place where many great sculptures and works of art and craft by many outstanding artists can be found. Being a resting place of many exceptional figures, the cemetery has become an important destination for thousands of people concerned with the history and culture of Polish Jews as well as with their contribution to the history of Poland. Since 2015, we have renovated and restored the qualities of several dozen monuments.
