The beginnings of the Jewish settlement in Bolesławiec (German: Bunzlau) are hidden in the dark of ages. It is known that about 1370, 360 Jews lived in 31 houses along Żydowska street, but they were expelled from the town till 1454. Subsequent references to the Jews of Bolesławiec come from the 18th century. An intrinsic development of the Jewish community in this town took place in the 19th century. In 1822 in Bolesławiec there were 22 people of Jewish origin and 99 people in 1849. At the end of this century, in 1880, the Jewish community of Bolesławiec consisted of 194 people. In 1876 in Przedmie¶cie Mikołajskie building of the synagogue began. On the 17th of September 1878 it was officially put into operation.

The economic crisis after the First World war and the later Nazi taking over as well as the Nazi persecutions conduced to the decrease of Jewish population in Bolesławiec. During the Kristallnacht the Nazi paramilitary forces set the synagogue on fire and demolished businesses and properties owned by Jews such as shops, workshops and houses. In 1939 only 64 citizens of Jewish origin left in town. Their later fate remains unknown - probably the most of them were exterminated.

Marcin Wodziński in his book "Hebrajskie inskrypcje na ¦l±sku w XIII-XVIII w." assumes that in the Middle Ages at the latest, there was a Jewish cemetery in Bolesławiec. There is no evidence for existence of this necropolis in the archives yet the hypothesis by M.Wodziński, a well-known judaica researcher, cannot be refuted.

The Jewish cemetery In Bolesławiec was established in 1817 at the corner of Podgórna Street and Jeleniowska Street (then Loewenbergerstrasse and Friedrichstrasse). In 1870 in its area a funeral parlour was built by the local Jewish community.

Poszukujemy wszelkich informacji o Żydach z Bolesławca i ich nekropolii.
Czekamy też na relacje osób, które pamiętaj± ten cmentarz z okresu przed jego zniszczeniem.