Alternate names: Przedecz [Pol], Pshaytsh, פשייטש [Yid], Pshedech, Пшедеч [Rus], Presheysh, Pshaych, Pshayts, Pshech, Pshedesh, Pshedetz, Pshedets. 52°20' N, 18°54' E, 89 miles W of Warszawa, 47 miles NNW of Łódź, 23 miles SSW of Włocławek. 1900 Jewish population: about 700. Yizkor: Sefer yizkor le-kedoshei ir Pshaytsh korbanot ha-shoa, (Tel Aviv, 1974). This town in Koło County in the Greater Poland Voivodeship with 1,779 inhabitants in 2006 is W of Central Poland, midway between Chodecz and Kłodawa, 130 km (80 miles) E of Poznań bordering Lake Przedecz. Jewish history. Jewish settlement dates from the end of the 14th century and the cemetery from around 1400. Since at least the mid-1960s, the synagogue was replaced with houses. All that remained in the cemetery was one tree and no matzevot. The beit midrash and adjoining rabbi's house remain. The Buks family erected a memorial in the cemetery that reads, "We honor the blessed memory of our Jewish ancestors from the town of Przedecz lovingly remembered by the Buks family - 1993." The town planted trees and shrubs. Gravestones that were reported in the museum/conservation laboratory and in the garden by the Municipality Office seemnigly have disappeared. [June 2009]
US Commission No. POCE00697
Przedecz is located in Konin voiev., about 10 km from Klodawa. The Jewish cemetery is located on Rybacka Street. Present town population is 1,000-5,000 with no Jews.
The earliest known Jewish community was 14th Century. 1938/39 Jewish population was 1000, 22.3%. The last known Orthodox Jewish burial was 1939. The isolated suburban flat land has no sign or marker. No wall, gate, or fence surround (A wooden fence existed before the war.). Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all. The size of the cemetery before W.W.II was around 0.5 hectares; it is the same size now. No tombstones are visible. Some removed tombstones are in a museum/conservation laboratory (5 pieces); and some are in the garden by the Municipality Office (3 pieces of 20th century sandstone finely smoothed and Hebrew inscribed stones.) Some tombstones have traces of painting on their surfaces. The municipality owns site used for recreation, a forest planted from 1960-1965. Properties adjacent are residential. There is a house at the synagogue's site [pre-burial house?]. Private Jewish visitors and local residents occasionally visit. The cemetery was vandalized during W.W.II. No maintenance. There are slight security, weather erosion, pollution, vegetation, incompatible nearby development, and vandalism threats.
Lucja Pawlicka-Nowak, 62510 Vonin, ul ????? 15/76, tel. 434356, (see Konin) visited the site on September 10, 1992 and completed survey on September 10. Literature and interviews were used. Jan Stelmasiak of Przedecz was interviewed on September 10, 1992 at the cemetery site.
|Last Updated on Sunday, 28 June 2009 16:58|