Cmentarz a nekropolia - "tradycja" a asymilacja? Cmentarze żydowskie w przestrzeni miast województwa śląskiego

Abstract

The article presents analyses of Jewish cemetery space in the Silesian Voivodeship with the focus on the complexes located within urban centres: Częstochowa, Tarnowskie Góry, Bytom, Katowice, Gliwice, Bielsko-Biała (former Bielsko), Cieszyn. The study aims at demonstrating assimilation processes, which occurred in the 19th- and 20th-century Jewish communities living in the research area and which were ref ected in material culture of these communities. Transformations of particular elements of cemetery landscaping, such as: special layout, gravestone forms and location, pre-burial house physiognomy, bear witness to the main cultural trends and are the expression of political and religious differences. The article is based on the results of author´s own analysis and f eld documentation of Jewish necropolises of the Silesian Voivodeship, carried out in 2015–2016.