Stop Charging Worshippers to Enter Jewish Cemeteries and Synagogues in Poland

Jewish cemeteries and synagogues are sacred places of prayer, remembrance, and religious heritage. They are not merely tourist attractions.

For generations, Jewish people from across the world have travelled to Poland to visit the graves of their ancestors, rabbonim, and tzaddikim, and to pray at historic Jewish sites.

No one should have to pay an entrance fee simply to visit the grave of a loved one, daven at a kever, or enter a synagogue for prayer.

Yet concerns have emerged regarding entrance charges imposed at Jewish heritage sites managed by the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland (FODŻ).

Visitors have reported compulsory admission fees, including minimum charges calculated for four people, even when fewer individuals are visiting.

For someone travelling to Poland specifically to pray at a Jewish cemetery, such charges turn an act of religious devotion into a paid admission.

Religious worship should not be treated as tourism

We fully recognise the importance of preserving and restoring Jewish cemeteries and synagogues. These sacred sites require maintenance, security, and considerable resources.

However, there must be a distinction between tourists visiting historical attractions and Jewish people entering these places for religious purposes.

Charging for guided tours, exhibitions, or tourist services is one matter. Requiring payment merely to pray or visit a grave is another.

Preservation should protect Jewish religious heritage, not create unnecessary financial barriers to accessing it.

What we are calling for

We call upon FODŻ, its founding organisations, and the relevant Polish authorities to:

1. Guarantee free religious access to Jewish cemeteries and synagogues for worshippers and those visiting graves for religious purposes.
2. End compulsory minimum-group charges for religious visitors, including requiring payment for four people when only one or two wish to enter.
3. Establish a clear and practical religious-access policy at all affected sites, ensuring that worshippers can enter without compulsory admission fees, subject to reasonable security and preservation arrangements.
4. Provide financial transparency regarding entrance fees, restoration funds, and expenditure on cemetery and synagogue preservation.
5. Consult Jewish communities worldwide, including rabbonim, kehillos, descendants, and heritage organisations, when making decisions that affect access to these sacred places.
6. Support independent examination of cemetery management and preservation, with appropriate changes considered where serious deficiencies are established.

Jewish heritage belongs to future generations

Jewish cemeteries in Poland are the final resting places of countless generations of Jewish families. Many are among the last surviving physical connections to communities destroyed during the Holocaust.

These places carry profound religious, historical, and emotional significance for Jewish people around the world.

Their preservation is essential. So is ensuring that worshippers and descendants can access them without compulsory religious admission charges.

We are not calling for an end to restoration work. We are calling for preservation and religious access to go hand in hand.

Add your signature

This petition is organised by Findakever, an independent Jewish heritage preservation initiative dedicated to documenting and preserving Jewish cemeteries and reconnecting families with the graves of their ancestors.

We invite Jewish communities, kehillos, rabbonim, heritage organisations, descendants, and individuals worldwide to support this petition.

Sign to call for free religious access to Jewish cemeteries and synagogues in Poland, greater transparency, and meaningful accountability in the preservation of Jewish heritage.