The Jewish Cemetery in Ryki was probably founded already back in the 16th century. It is in Piaskowa Street, on the eastern side of the Buksa Pond, 1 km from the market square[1.1]. The cemetery is located on a hill.
Towards the end of the 19th century, Rabbi Baruch’s ohel was built in the cemetery. Gates to the cemetery were located in the north-eastern and south-eastern corners. The matzevah inscriptions faced the east. The last known burial took place there in 1942. Jews from Stężyca, located in the vicinity, were also buried there. In the interwar period, the cemetery was trapeze-shaped and covered the area of 0.9 ha. At that time, it was surrounded with a barbed wire fence.
During World War II, Germans destroyed the cemetery and the matzevahs were used by the Nazis for road paving. In 1944, as the frontline moved, the fence was destroyed and some trees growing there were cut down.
After the war, the cemetery was used as a sand mine. The surviving gravestones were stolen away by the local people. Probably they can be found in various places of the town even today.
In the 1960s, Mr. Stanisław Dąbrowski, residing at 19 Piaskowa Street, together with his brother, Henry, secured six matzevahs from the cemetery, dated: 1860, 1877, 1882, 1887 and 1894. The decorations and inscriptions on the gravestones were in Hebrew.
In 1994, on the order of the Jewish Religious Union (Związek Religijny Wyznania Mojżeszowego), a project of regulating and managing the cemetery area was prepared; unfortunately, to this day it has not been implemented.
Until the 1990s, about 16 gravestones could be seen in the cemetery. They did not have any clear traces of inscriptions. Today, on the area of 0.9 ha, there are remains of three matzevahs of sandstone, with Hebrew inscriptions visible. The cemetery is covered with bushes and grass.
In 2003, Mr. Jerzy Reca dug out a well-preserved matzevah with Hebrew inscriptions. Today, illegal races of motors and off-road cars are organized in the cemetery by the youth of Ryki. The town authorities placed an information board in the cemetery, yet it has not been respected by the young Ryki residents.
In 2008, two teenagers from Ryki made a makeshift plaque informing of the existence of the Jewish cemetery. Boys also produced a wooden Star of David.
Karol and Przemek explained what motivated them in the following words: It was when we went to the cemetery and saw the desecrated place that we thought of it as a cemetery for the first time, with people buried there. This pushed us to act. We went together to the garage of Karol’s father, who had all the necessary carpentry tools that we needed to make the plaque and the Star of David. We worked and after two hours we were able to light a candle under the finished plaque.
Apart from the plaque, boys also cleaned the cemetery area and put up two lying matzevahs. Probably the tombstones had been used as means of protection for bonfires.
