WELCOME

Welcome to our website — with all the memories and so much more!! If you grew up in Bochnia Poland— or if you had relatives living there, our website will help you reminisce. If you grew up elsewhere and had no connection to the Polish Jewish Cemeteries, our website will educate you about the Bochnia Cemetery of yesteryear. Our website is dedicated to the memory of those who are buried there, and our goal is to honor them by preserving their final resting places — BOCHNIA CEMETERY IN POLAND.

חסד של אמת לקברי אבות ואמהות זי'ע

 

Help restore & preserve the 150-year-old cemetery of Bochnia Poland.

It is one of the Greatest Mitzvas of our times.

over 800 graves in ruins and neglect, consisting of holocaust victims of the famous Bochnia Ghetto, Jewish soldiers who fought in WW I, prestigious rabbis & personalities of the once thriving Jewish community.

Let’s open our hearts and take part in this great Mitzvah.

זורע צדקות, מצמיח ישועות

 

WHO WE ARE

We, a group of concerned citizens with deep roots and past BIRTH history to the Bochnia Community and its cemetery. We formed BOCHNIA FAMILIES WORLDWIDE INC. in 2023, because we cared about the future of the cemetery. We felt — and still feel — an intense sense of responsibility to ensure the preservation of our ancestors’ cemetery. We want to honor and respect those interred there. Our goals are to raise sufficient funds to finance the necessary work and restore and maintain Bochnia Cemetery forever. (And others in the future)

OUR MISSION

Bochnia Heritage Inc. was created May 2023 to implement the restoration, maintenance, and preservation of this cemetery. We will do the restoration in many phases.

1---remove all the current overgrown weeds, lawn the entire cemetery, remove all fallen broken branches and parts of trees, put all in trash bags for dumping off cemetery grounds, have a truck or van remove all, purchase all relative equipment, serve drinks and food for workers and volunteers.

2---remove and clean all mold off the monuments, hand wash many eligible stones, not to damage any lettering, place broken stones on top of current grave or in front of it, clean the entire surroundings of cemetery gate.

3---repaint the entrance gate, fix all electric lighting fixtures, hang new signs identifying cemetery,

4---identifying all the monuments with numbers on each monument, and placing row numbers, to create a correct map of each grave with its name on it. We will also develop a large outdoor map for the public to identify each named grave.

5--- an extremely dangerous and costly job to remove all rotten trees, trees which are encroaching into current graves and uplifting the monuments, giant trees which have enormous, large branches that can fall down and damage stones, and much more.

By networking to locate and contact many individuals with roots in Bochnia Cemetery, our organization will grow very quickly. Many people reached out to help by committing time or financial support or both to help the cause. Others helped by identifying and locating others who were willing to help and eager to honor the memories of the deceased with both immediate and long-term plans to enhance the beauty and dignity of these final resting places.

Most people have viewed this as much more than a fundraising project. They have seen it, instead, as a wonderful opportunity, to remember our heritage, and to honor the memory of our loved ones. It has raised awareness, interest, and will provide significant support for the maintenance & preservation of our cemetery. Tours and visitors will be able to locate the graves of their ancestors, to connect with their relatives, and to observe our progress in maintaining the cemeteries.

Our primary mission has always been charitable (raising funds for this project), and this primary mission is supported by Rabbinical Counsel all over the world, and others --- in which we take immense pride.

BETTER AND STRONGER

We want to assure all those with roots in the Bochnia Cemetery that our concerns and attention will not diminish at all and will, in fact, be strengthened by our current restorations and preservation project.

CORE PRINCIPLES

1. We believe that the Bochnia Jewish Cemetery is the final resting place for many of our own beloved rabbis, relatives, honorable men woman children, friends, and holocaust victims, and we believe these final resting places are sacred grounds that deserve dignity and respect.

2. We believe it is our responsibility as descendants, disciples, and beneficiaries of those interred at this cemetery to do whatever is necessary to restore them to dignity and maintain them in this manner.

3. We believe that those who are physically, emotionally, and/or financially able to contribute to this restoration and maintenance effort should do so to the fullest of their abilities.

4. We believe that our contributions to this effort are both a personal obligation and a means of expressing our appreciation to our ancestors for making our successes possible.

5. We hope future generations will understand and share our respect for this cemetery and those interred here and will continue our efforts.

BOARD MEMBERS

CHECK BACK AND CONTACT US

Please check back frequently for updates and more information. We hope you will contact us if you have photos and/or memories of Bochnia Cemetery to share with us, and we hope you will send us the names of others who may be interested in our cemetery. (Please use the “Contact Us” button on the menu.)

We will upgrade and update our website to include news, information, and photos about all of our restoration, repairs, cleanings, fallen branches, rubbish removals & tree removals etc.

OUR CEMETERY PARTNERS

The Jewish Gminda in Krakow, The Museum of Bochnia,

The Community Residents of Bochnia, The Polish Government of Warsaw, And others

OUR COMMUNITY AND CEMETERY HEROES

We are proud to present a few heroes of our Bochnia Jewish cemetery and other Jewish communities cemeteries, they represent, so that we can honor and remember them. Although only two heroes are currently listed below, we plan to add to this special list in the near future.

REMEMBERING R’ MENDEL REICHBERG obm.

R’ Mendel Reichberg is survived by his sons and daughters. His death is a loss to all of us, and we will all miss him greatly. He will be remembered by all as one of our heroes.

REMEMBERING MR. LEON GAWAD obm. – Former Caretaker of Bochnia Cemetery

 

IN MERIT OF THIS GREAT MITZVAH

MAY HASHEM Bless you and yours,

with Good Health, Happiness, Prosperity, Nachas,

and continued Success in all your endeavors.

בזכות מצוה גדולה, זה לעומת זה,

שימלא ה' כל משאלות לבינו, ונתבשר בשורות טובות, ישועות ונחמות

.ויקבץ נדחינו מארבע כנפות הארץ, ונאמר אמן

Rabbi Meyer Chaim Greenbaum

Bochnia Heritage, Inc. is a federally tax-exempt organization as determined by the Internal Revenue Service under Section 501(c)(3).

All contributions are tax-deductible as provided by law.