2026 Częstochowa Jewish Cemetery Clean-Up is Done
Sources: Alon Goldman, Paweł Kulig, Asia Sidorowicz
On an almost annual basis, Alon Goldman, Vice-President of the World Society of Częstochowa Jews & Their Descendants and Chairman of the Association of Częstochowa Jews is Israel, has organised and led a clean-up of the Częstochowa Jewish cemetery. Over time, Alon has been joined by volunteers from various organisations, both adults and young people in this holy work.
DAY 1: Wednesday, 27th May 2026
From early morning, the voices of high school students could once again be heard throughout our Częstochowa Jewish Cemetery, as students from the Technical Secondary Schools Complex (Zespół Szkół Technicznych) and the Technical Training Institute (Techniczne Zakłady Naukowe), together with our friends, volunteers from the Adullam Foundation, arrived to help on the first day of the concentrated clean-up week at our Częstochowa Jewish Cemetery.
Regular student involvement in this work is the result of ongoing cooperation with the city’s Education Department which, this year, has recruited ten secondary schools to assist us in our efforts.
At our request, the city’s Environmental Protection Department arranged for a container for collecting plant waste and portable toilets to be placed in the parking area. Very quickly, we had to call them and ask them to replace the container, which had already been filled with tree trunks, while piles of branches, intended for shredding, began piling up beside the path.
World Society friend, Krzysztof Strauss, found time away from his other duties and worked wonders with the brush cutter, mowing down dense green vegetation and exposing previously hidden gravestones.
As each year, our friend Paweł Kulig added his efforts to the clean-up and, of course, as always, Asia Siderowicz came, with her camera, to document the event photographically.
Elsewhere in the cemetery, the students and Marcin Bocian cleaned fragments of a broken gravestone in order to identify a grave that had not been located in the mapping carried out by historian Wiesław Paszkowski and the Gidonim Project.
By matching the gravestone fragments to an old photograph Alon Goldman found on the Yad Vashem Institute website, identification became possible. It was deeply moving, through a video call, to show the donor of the photograph, in real time, that the grave of her family members had been found in the cemetery.
DAY 2: Thursday, 28th May 2026
Today, students from the Economic Secondary School and the Jan Kochanowski Secondary School joined our friends, the volunteers from the Adullam Foundation.
The students were divided into two work groups:
The first group, led by Paweł Kolig, continued feeding branches, which had previously been cut, into the wood-chipping machine and filling the containers with tree trunks and plant waste. A new pile of wood chips quickly accumulated and, once again, we had to call the city authorities to empty the two containers, which had filled up with tree trunks, branches unsuitable for chipping, and plant debris.
The second group, led by Robert Kamela of the Adullam Foundation, cleared an area, where several gravestones had been hidden. The girls, who were working with him, cleaned the stones so that they could be identified. Unfortunately, some of the gravestones are no longer legible. In some cases, the marble plaques bearing the names have been broken, smashed, or stolen.
When the picture that emerged did not match the existing cemetery mapping, Alon Goldman contacted historian Wiesław Pszczkowski, who promptly came onsite. Together, they we deciphered the situation and identified the graves.
At noon, Alon Goldman met with Zdzisław Wolski, Acting Mayor of the City, and Deputy Mayor Łukasz Kot. They discussed the ongoing efforts to preserve Jewish heritage and the urgent need to resolve the issue of ownership of the cemetery.
At noon, Alon Goldman, World Society Vice-President, met with Zdzisław Wolski, Acting Mayor of the City, and Deputy Mayor Łukasz Kot.
They discussed the ongoing efforts to preserve city’s Jewish heritage and, of course, the continuing urgent need to resolve the issue of ownership of the Częstochowa Jewish Cemetery.
DAY 3: Friday, 29th May 2026
On this third day of our clean-up, we were joined by students from the Częstochowa Bolesław Prus Secondary School and the W. S. Reymont School of Fashion and Advertising Industry.
As on previous days, volunteers from the Adullam Foundation also took part. The volunteers were divided into two work groups led by Robert Kamela of the Adullam Foundation and Paweł Kolig.
Observing from the sidelines, it may be difficult to grasp the scale of the work being carried out. Most of the cemetery is covered with perennial vegetation, which we decided not to tackle this year. During January and February, when the cemetery was free of vegetation, we hired tree workers who removed fallen trunks, broken branches and numerous shrubs that obstructed pathways between rows of graves.
Many local residents have visited the cemetery in recent months and freely collected tree trunks for heating their homes during the winter. Even on the days we are working, people still occasionally come asking to take some wood home.
It is these trunks, branches and shrubs which we are dealing with this year and which are being cleared by the students. The trunks are loaded into the containers, provided by the city, while the shrubs are fed into the wood-chipping machine we have rented.
For the second time this year, we are testing the possibility of controlling the perennial vegetation without the use of chemicals. Pathways, alongside rows of graves, which have been uncovered beneath the greenery, have been covered with an ecological membrane, on top of which we have spread wood chips. It is said that, after some time, perennial vegetation will cease to grow in areas treated in this way.
Not far from the cemetery entrance, beneath the dense vegetation, students working with Robert uncovered the graves of three children: Yehuda, son of Yaakov Aharon Broniatowski, Meir, son of Chaim Kopeček, and Lucia, daughter of Markus Gradstein, who died in Germany and was brought back to her native city of Częstochowa for burial. Following identification, these graves will be assigned numbers and incorporated into our cemetery mapping project on the Gedeonim website.
Lucia’s grave is particularly unusual. It originally consisted of two sections, the upper part of which has fallen—or been knocked down. At a later stage, we will try to restore it to its original position.
(Pic left) Today, in an area from which we had cleared shrubs for the woodchipper, a huge tree trunk was discovered. It had apparently fallen during the past winter, and only the gravestone of Hanna Gottlieb z”l prevented it from crashing to the ground. Miraculously, the monument was not destroyed.
Removing the trunk requires specialist expertise to avoid causing further damage. We have therefore approached the Częstochowa volunteer fire brigade for assistance, hoping they will agree to help us.
DAY 4: Monday, 1st June 2026
Today we were joined by Częstochowa students from Maria Skłodowska-Curie Gastronomy Secondary School and the Automotive Mechanics Secondary School. As number of students was lower than usual, together with the Adullam Foundation volunteers, work focused on a single task – that of removing cut tree branches from the section bordering the cemetery fence and feeding them into the wood-chipping machine.
Despite the smaller number of students, the amount of work accomplished was very satisfactory.
Alon Goldman took advantage of the day to photograph gravestones, which he will add to the inventory website when he returns home.
During the day, a group of 200 young cyclists visited the cemetery as part of a cycling tour of heritage sites in the city. One of the organisers was a teacher, who had participated in the clean-up work last week. He asked Alon’s permission to include the cemetery in their tour and, of course, he agreed.
For most of them, it was their first visit to the cemetery and their first opportunity to hear from me about the long history of the Częstochowa Jewish community and its tragic fate during the Holocaust, and the reasons why the cemetery is in its present condition. Perhaps some of them will return in future years to volunteer here.
At the end of last week, we learned that, after many years in office, the head of the Jewish Community [Gmina] of Katowice had been replaced. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Attorney Strauss and Alon Goldman travelled today to meet the new director of the community.
The main topic of our discussion was the cemetery. We hope that, despite all the difficulties, the new community leader will succeed in advancing the long-overdue resolution of the cemetery’s ownership status.
DAY 5: Tuesday, 2nd June 2026
This morning we began the fifth and final working day of our intensive cemetery clean-up week for 2026. Joining the volunteers from the Adullam Foundation today were students from the General Anders Secondary School in Częstochowa.
Today, we continued focusing on removing tree trunks and branches that had been cut down, by the professional tree cutters whom we employed in January and February, in the section bordering the cemetery wall. (Under Polish law, tree cutting is prohibited in Poland between March and October).
At the end of the previous week, Alon Goldmn approached the city authorities requesting that they address the area of the mass graves, where the vegetation had grown very tall. Since these graves are officially designated as “war graves”, responsibility for their maintenance lies with the Polish government and its representatives.
This morning, the city sent a work crew, who mowed the overgrown vegetation, and the mass grave area has, once again, taken on a dignified appearance.
Another work week has come to an end, but the mission is far from complete.
Much work remains throughout the cemetery – more tree trunks and shrubs need to be cut and removed, and piles of plant debris, tree trunks and shredded branches still need to be cleared away.
This is how local Częstochowa Orion TV covered the cemetery cleanup (click on settings for English audio):
During this week, ten secondary schools from Częstochowa participated in the clean-up effort, together with approximately 200 students, volunteers from the Adullam Foundation and many good friends.
Throughout the week, Alon Goldman photographed many gravestones, including newly uncovered ones and, after processing the information, he will upload everything to the Gideons’ website.
We cannot conclude without expressing our gratitude to:
- Elżbieta Francz, Director of the Adullam Foundation, for recruiting and organising her volunteer group, for caring for, storing, and maintaining our tools year after year, and for supporting all logistical aspects of the work.
- Robert Kamela of the Adullam Foundation, a dear friend with an exceptional work ethic and a huge heart, who helped manage the work at the cemetery, supervised the Foundation’s volunteers and the students, worked tirelessly every day, and contributed greatly to the project’s success.
- The volunteer team from the Adullam Foundation – hard-working individuals, who willingly volunteered to assist with every task requested of them.
- Rafał Piotrowski, Head of the Education Department of the City of Częstochowa, who recently completed his term of office, for his cooperation over recent years, his assistance in recruiting schools and students, and my best wishes for success in his new role.
- Tomasz Tomczyk, Director of the General Anders Secondary School Complex, for establishing connections with school principals and organising the weekly schedule for all participating schools.
- The principals of the Częstochowa schools and their students, who volunteered to help with the work and had the opportunity to learn something about the history of Częstochowa’s Jews and their tragic fate during the Holocaust.
- Krzysztof Strauss, our dear friend and partner, for his commitment to the work, support and assistance whenever needed.
- Dr. Ryszard Stefaniak, Deputy Mayor of Częstochowa, who helped promote the recruitment of students and schools.
- Łukasz Kot, Deputy Mayor of Częstochowa, and Andrzej Szczerba, Head of the Environmental Protection Department, for their logistical support in providing portable toilets for the students and containers for plant-waste disposal, and for ensuring the safety of workers at the cemetery.
- Paweł Kolig from “Guardians of Memory,” a true friend, who came to Częstochowa and helped organise the work on several days, drawing on his extensive experience in cleaning the Łódź Jewish Cemetery.
This work week has ended, but we already preparing to host a group of students from the United States, who will arrive between 13th and 15th July 2026, to volunteer at the cemetery as part of the L’Dor V’Dor Heritage Program, led by Dr. Dan Oren and Rev. Dr. Steven Reiss.
This work has been made possible through the generosity of good people. However, to continue these efforts, we need additional support to hire professional tree cutters, who can remove trees and branches without damaging gravestones, operate the wood-chipping machine, purchase gloves, water, mosquito and tick repellent sprays, repair tools and to replace worn-out equipment.
Information about donation methods appears below – please help us in this holy work!
Together, with your support, we can do much more!
!יחד עם התמיכה שלכם נוכל לעשות הרבה יותר
The Association of Częstochowa Jews in Israel supports these works by financing the purchase of tools and gloves,
as well as protection against ticks and mosquitoes.
We also hire skilled aborists and mulching machines as needed.
Together, with your support and contribution, we can do more! A donation to support our activities can be made as detailed below:
