An interesting project people with Jewish relatives that lived in Poland should be aware of is the Database of Jewish Cemeteries in Poland. Started as a database of the Jewish cemetery in Warsaw, it has expanded to include cemeteries in the following cities and towns:
- Brok
- Błonie
- Garwolin
- Góra Kalwaria
- Grodzisk Mazowiecki
- Gąbin
- Karczew
- Korczyna
- Mińsk Mazowiecki
- Mszczonów
- Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki
- Okuniew
- Otwock
- Palmiry
- Piaseczno
- Prudnik
- Pruszków
- Przytyk
- Płock
- Radom
- Siedlce
- Sierpc
- Sochaczew
- Sopot
- Strzegowo
- Szydłowiec
- Warszawa
- Wieliczka
- Wiskitki
- Wysokie Mazowieckie
- Wyszków
- Węgrów
- Łaskarzew
- Łosice
- Żelechów
- Żyrardów
New cemeteries are added on a semi-regular basis. Most recently in September the databases for Sopot, Palmiry and Korczyna were added.
The database includes photographs of graves, although the photos are small and generally hard to read. In Warsaw alone, there are over 80,000 records.
If you have family that lived in any of the above cities and towns, I recommend doing a search and seeing what you find.
Of course, when looking for Jewish cemetery records for your research, always check out the JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR) as well. JOWBR has records from many countries, including 69 cemeteries in Poland. In Warsaw, JOWBR lists 5 cemeteries with only 591 burials, however, so clearly if you want to do research for all Polish cemeteries you’ll need to search both databases. JOWBR has 97,953 burials in Piotrkow that this site doesn’t have. Hopefully they will share data in the future.
For more information on JOWBR and how to use it, see my blog post from the JewishGen Blog: JewishGen Basics: JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR).