Jewish tombstone fragments discovered in Polish town near Treblinka

SOKOLOW PODLASKI, Poland (JTA) – Fragments from dozens of Jewish tombstones were discovered during renovations in a Polish town near the former Nazi death camp Treblinka.

The fragments were found last week in the eastern town of Sokolow Podlaski as work began on a terrace leading to the shops located at a marketplace there.

“We are in contact with the mayor and the ‘matzevot’ [headstones] will return to the cemetery,” Polish Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich told JTA.

One idea for returning them is to embed the fragments in a concrete wall that would be built at the Jewish cemetery in Sokolow. The fragments are being transported to a municipal facility for storage.

Renovation on the Sokolow market square began last year.

The two Jewish cemeteries in the town were devastated during World War II.

In the 1930s, some 60 percent of Sokolow’s 10,000 inhabitants were Jewish. Most of the Jews perished in September 1942 at Treblinka.