A bulldozer that entered the Jewish cemetery in Brzesko, Poland, as part of work to renovate a collapsed wall, drove over graves, smashed gravestones, and dug directly into graves without halachic supervision, Poland’s Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich and Meir Bulka of the organization J-nerations told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.
J-nerations works on several fronts to preserve Jewish heritage sites in the Diaspora, especially grave sites and cemeteries.
Brzesko cemetery is owned by the Jewish Religious Community of Krakow, which is therefore responsible for its maintenance. A few weeks ago, Bulka said the community went ahead with plans to repair the cemetery fence because it was “very old and in poor condition.”
Schudrich said the wall was built about 15 years ago, but it was not constructed well and was at risk of falling.
Both confirmed to the Post that the bulldozer was sent to the cemetery without prior coordination with the Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries in Europe (CPJCE) – the rabbinic organization founded to rescue, restore, and protect abandoned or threatened Jewish burial grounds across the continent in accordance with strict Jewish religious law.
The bulldozer accessed the cemetery through the main entrance and broke several tombstones while moving toward the wall. As a result, graves were compromised, and fragments of human bones were found scattered in the area.
Bulka provided the Post with pictures from the scene, which show a tractor next to several dug-up graves and fallen gravestones, as well as what appears to be bone fragments.
Jewish Community of Krakow apologizes
Schudrich said that as soon as he heard about the incident, he sent a colleague to check the site. When the colleague witnessed the destruction, construction work was immediately paused, the bones reburied, and the Jewish Community of Krakow ultimately apologized.
“They made several mistakes,” Schudrich told the Post. “First, they went ahead without halachic supervision. And second, they used a bulldozer.”
He explained that with delicate work such as renovating Jewish cemeteries, any digging should be done carefully with hand shovels so as to avoid destruction of the area.
There are specific bodies in Poland, such as the Rabbinical Committee of Cemeteries, purpose-built to deal with issues like this, he added.
“There are 1,400 Jewish cemeteries in Poland,” Schudrich told the Post. “Cemeteries are a very important subject here. We do everything in our power to respect the dead, and at the same time, also try to do right by the living.”
In the past, there have been issues with Polish authorities carrying out work on cemeteries, but the Jewish community has since developed good communication with local Polish authorities, and the situation has improved.
“Once you engage with the local authorities and you show respect, they engage and show respect back.”
Community chose not to work with Chief Rabbi
Regarding why the Jewish Community of Krakow carried out the work unsupervised, a source close to the matter told the Post that the president of the community has chosen not to work with the chief rabbi or centralized Jewish bodies for the past one to two years.
According to the Center for Jewish Art, the cemetery in Brzesko was established in the early 1800s. Alongside the gravestones, there are two ohels (structures built over graves of distinguished people). The newest tombstone is dated 1960.
Among those buried in the Brzesko cemetery are Rabbi Aryeh Leib Lipschitz (aka Aryeh Dvei Ila’i) and his son, Rabbi Meshulam Zalman Yehonatan; Rabbi Pinchas Templer of Dembitz-Briegel; Rabbi Pinchas Templer, son of Rabbi Matityahu; Rabbi Menashe, son of Rabbi Menachem or Nachum Tzvi (due to weather damage, it is unclear which one); and Rabbi Tuvia, son of Rabbi Meshulam Zalman.
The Post reached out to the president of the Jewish Religious Community of Krakow for comment but had no response by press time.