Tarnow’s Jewish cemetery, called ‘kirchol’ by the locals,
is one of the biggest and most interesting Jewish
graveyards in Southern Poland. It is also one of the old−
est, with great history and beautifully carved headstones.
It covers over 3.20 ha (32,000 m2) surrounded by a brick
wall and a metal fence from Sloneczna Street on the
south. Tarnow’s Jewish Cemetery was probably founded in
the second half of the16th century or even earlier.
The oldest part of
the cemetery is the area on the left side from the entrance
along Szpitalna Street. Later the cemetery area was
enlarged several times, the last in 1924. There are several
thousand headstones in Tarnow’s kirkut and all of them
are situated in an east−west line
The cemetery was devastated by the Germans during
World War II and later by local hooligans for several
years. In 1988 a Committee For The Protection Of Mo−
numents Of Jewish Culture and its monuments was estab−
lished in Tarnow. One of its major tasks is looking after
the cemetery.
The full history of the cementery you will find in a link below.