Pieces of Matzevot
Heritage Sites – Cemeteries
Polska / podlaskie
While looking for Jewish traces in Boćki a visit to the Christian cemetery (the Catholic and Orthodox cemeteries are surrounded by a common wall) is recommended. It is located about one kilometer outside the town; on the way from Bielsko Podlaskie to Siemiatycze one should turn right.
Upon entering the cemetery, one should turn right and go along the stone fence. On its inner side one can find many pieces of matzevot from destroyed Jewish cemeteries. In some places, almost complete tombstones can be found. It seems that the number of tombstones is even greater – some of them were built with their inscriptions facing inwards. Also, on the outer side of the fence, pieces of tombstones can be found, yet due to lush vegetation they are not clearly visible.
According to the Internet forum of Boćki at the beginning of 1943, the Boćki people were forced to remove the matzevot from Jewish cemeteries. The materials were collected near the Dom Ludowy. Tombstones were used as building materials in e.g. road renovation. After the war, the situation did not change: the communist authorities did not mind where the free building materials came from. Father Michał Sokołowski managed to smuggle some tombstones to the renovated cemetery fence.
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