The New Jewish Cemetery in the historic Jewish neighbourhood of Kazimierz is a registered heritage monument along with historic mortuary. It was founded in 1800 on grounds purchased by the Jewish Qahal from the Augustinians and enlarged in 1836 with additional land purchased from the monks. Since that time the cemetery has been the final resting place for many prominent figures of Jewish origin.
The New Jewish Cemetery features a renovated brick mortuary hall from 1903, as well as the post-war lapidary memorial fitted with old headstones and crowned with a block of black marble. The cemetery contains over 10,000 tombs, the oldest dating from 1809. There are many monuments commemorating the death of Jews killed during the Holocaust.
The new Jewish cemetery in Krakow includes the graves of Rabbis, Tzadiks and Jewish mystics, Members of Beth din rabbinical court, as well as prominent scholars, writers, intellectuals, painters and political activists. The names include, among others, Mieczysław Staner, Maria Orwid, Artur Markowicz and Maurycy Gottlieb.
At the beginning of the 20th century the new cemetery became nearly full. From 1932 on, burials were directed to a new plot bought in 1926 along Abrahama Street and the one at Jerozolimska Street. These two other cemeteries formed the site of the Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp during the Holocaust and no longer exist.
In 1957, the grounds were renovated with funds from the Joint Distribution Committee. In 1999, the cemetery, including the 1903 mortuary, was entered into the register of historical monuments of Krakow.
Following the Nazi invasion of Poland in World War II, the New Cemetery was closed to outsiders and the Germans sold the most valuable stonework to local masons. Other headstones, as well as slabs, were turned into construction material and used for paving the supply road to the camp, including the courtyard of commandant Amon Göth.
The old bones at the cemetery were often left uncovered and scattered around in what looked like an open-pit mine. Caretaker Pina Ladner, who used to live on premises, was sent to Płaszów beforehand, and shot. Soon after the war ended, a local civil engineer identified only as Mr Stendig, likely Jakub Stendig, a camp survivor, recovered many tombstones from the Płaszów camp site, and arranged to have them reinstalled at the New Cemetery.