Wieniawa as a town does not exist any more. Nowadays it is within the administrative borders of Lublin . Jews constituted the majority of Wieniawa inhabitants (in 1856 even 90%). During the WW I 131 houses out of 227 belonged to people of Jewish descend. At one time famous tzadik Jakoow Icchak Hurwicz called The Seeing from Lublin lived here. Also family of Henryk Wieniawski - famous composer and violinist - comes from Wieniawa. His father while converting from Judaism into Catholicism took family name deriving from the name of place he lived.
The Jewish cemetery in Wieniawa at Leszczyńskiego street was established in the second half of the 18 th century after a local kehilla was constituted. Necropolis was destroyed by the Nazis in 1940. At the area of cemetery a stadium for Lublinianka Sport Club was built and matzevot were used for building works. After the war some matzevot were recovered and moved to the Jewish cemetery at Walecznych street.
In 2009 a monument was erected with the following inscription: "Wieniawa. A privately-owned town created at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, where Jews constituted the majority, became part of the city of Lublin in 1916. In 1940 the Germans sent Wieniawa Jews to the Lublin ghetto. The majority was murdered in the extermination camp in Bełżec. The Jewish cemetery was established in the 18th century. Part of the area became a sports stadium. May the souls of those who lie here be bound in the bonds of eternal life. The Jewish Religious Community Warsaw-Lublin 5769 - 2009".
text: K. Bielawski
photo: Piotr Moniakowski
translation: Katarzyna Nocek
More information about Wieniawa (in English) you can find here: The Lost Town of Wieniawa |