Jewish Cemetery

ul. Malczewskiego, Sopot 28 Feb 2024

Boasting neither the grandiose monuments of the big Polish Jewish cemeteries that survived the war nor the poignant neglect as can be witnessed in the Tri-city's other significantly surviving Jewish cemetery in Chełm, Sopot's Jewish Cemetery is a strange site indeed, still retaining its original walls and entrance gate but having lost most of the monuments inside. Opened in 1913 in a peaceful 0.5 hectare site amidst linden and birch trees that survive to this day, the moss-covered cemetery was the final resting place of many illustrious local Jewish families. The surviving graves with inscriptions in Polish, German, Russian and Hebrew are dated between 1922 and 1936, the year the last person was buried here, and include a rare monument to Jewish soldiers. The sign over the entrance gate reads This is the Gate to God.

Partially renovated by the Polish Nissenbaum Foundation, the cemetery is listed as a registered monument and is closed for burial. The cemetery hit the international news some years back when some of the stones were vandalised by a Gdańsk protest group claiming to be anti-facist and against Israeli policy in Palestine. A hastily prepared banner was placed by Sopot residents apologising for the attack. Find it on the left going up the hill, immediately after the large Catholic Cemetery.