The Jewish cemetery of Ratibor – a visit (April 2017)

von axelhuber

An old photograph shows the tomb of Georg Niclas at the Jewish cemetery in Ratibor. Photo: Ilse and William Niclas Collection; AR 25341; ME 1109; Leo Baeck Institute

Georg Niclas died on 10th June 1916 in his 37th year. Under great lamentation, he was buried in the Jewish cemetery on the outskirts of Ratibor. When his son Willi emigrated to the United States in 1936, he also took the photo albums, and with it the only memories of the homeland and the graves of the ancestors. There should never be a return.

Georg Niclas is only one of many people whose life story I research – and who found their last rest in the Jewish cemetery in Ratibor. When we traveled through Poland in April, we decided on a windy day to go to Ratibor (since 1945: Racibórz) to look for the Jewish cemetery.

I knew from research fellows that it was in a bad condition. The information on the location of the cemetery was vague. According to the Wikipedia entry it is in the Głubczyska Street. We drove through Głubczyska Street until we had left Racibórz again. No sign pointed to the cemetery, in the Wikipedia article there is a small photo of an entrance gate. When we passed the spot for the fourth time, we recognized the gate and turned into the sandy side street.

Garden idyll on graveyard ground. April 2017. Photo: Axel Huber

The former entrance gate now borders a quiet garden idyll. In the small lot of land is a small, fairly new walled hut, the lawn freshly trimmed. A wall protects the owner from all too obtrusive views from the street. The legacy of the Jewish community of Ratibor is dishonored.

The remains of the Jewish cemetery of Ratibor lie behind the small gardens. April 2017. Photo: Axel Huber

Past the garden idyll a path leads to a small forest. The path through the forest is the same as in the photo of the grave of Georg Niclas. Dense ivy conceals the disgrace of this forest, which overlooks a romantic view of the village and radiates a certain calm.

The way through the cemetery. Right in the picture a fire place – in the middle of a cemetery. April 2017. Photo: Axel Huber

Under the ivy lie isolated foundations of the graves, remains of gravestones. We found a single half-way full tombstone. Many people throw their garbage into this forest, a larger fire site testifies an unprecedented disrespect for this important part of the history of Racibórz.

The researcher finds even more sad when he finds evidence on two Polish Internet sites that the Jewish cemetery had survived the Second World War quite unharmed. It was not until the early 1970s that the administration of the city renounced the Jewish heritage of the city: the gravestones were cleared and used otherwise, e.g. as gravestones in the Catholic cemeteries.

 

Only since 2014 is a sign indicating that it is a Jewish cemetery – or rather its remains. If nothing happens, this part of the forest will soon be forgotten. Forever.