A living cemetery


  • Photographer
    Wojciech Zubala
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Company/Studios
    Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw, Poland
  • Date of Photograph
    2002
  • Technical Info
    analog photography

The Warsaw Jewish Cemetery at Okopowa Street is one of the largest necropolis of the Jewish people, not only in Poland, but worldwide. Founded in 1799, the cemetery encompasses now over 80 acres. Within its bounds there are more than two hundred thousand graves. As one of the very few, it has survived throughout the Second World War, and it continues to be a burial site today. Hidden behind a high brick wall, that separates it from a busy thoroughfare, the place lives by the rhytm of the changing yearly seasons, as nature, uncontained, lays its claim upon it, bit by bit. My fascination with the Jewish cemetery dates back to many years ago. From the very moment, when I entered its gates for the first time, I could but yield to its mystic spell. With a photo camera I have attempted to capture my impressions. I have tried to record the uniqueness of this extraordinary place, which above all, is a material and spiritual testimonial to the life of the Jewish community in Warsaw.

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