Polish official dismissed over unearthing of bones at Jewish cemetery

The conservator of Siemiatycze in eastern Poland was dismissed after the local Jewish cemetery there was desecrated.

At the beginning of the month, construction workers at the grounds adjacent to the Jewish cemetery in Siemiatycze uncovered human remains, likely from the cemetery. The chief rabbi of Poland, Michael Schudrich, called it “the worst desacralization of the Jewish cemetery” he had seen since assuming his post 17 years ago.

Andrzej Nowakowski was dismissed from his position last week at the request of the general conservator in Warsaw, Magdalena Gawin, who serves as undersecretary of state in the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

The remains were unearthed during work to modernize the power grid for the city of Siemiatycze. The grounds where the remains were uncovered is adjacent to the fence of the cemetery. The case is being investigated by the District Prosecutor’s Office in Siemiatycze. The bones were handed over to the Rabbinical Commission for Jewish Cemeteries.

A protest by Gawin in February led to charges against officials responsible for allowing the demolition of a former Jewish school building in Konin in central Poland.

“The building was a special witness to the presence of Konin Jews, Polish citizens murdered by the German occupiers during the Second World War,” Gawin said at the time. “The consequences will be taken against those whose actions consciously led to the demolition of the building.”