The old Jewish cemetery in Cieszyn was established in 1647 as a private necropolis of the Singing family, and the owners charged special fees for the burials of other family members.
On 31.05.1785 the Jewish community in Cieszyn bought the cemetery from Mojżesz Hirschel Singer.
Around 1820, a hospital for poor Jews was built at the cemetery, and in 1830 the area was surrounded by a brick wall. In the second half of the 19th century, a funeral home was built with an apartment for a guard and a stable for horses and a hearse.
In 1890, the cemetery was full. To enable further burials, the area of the old funeral home and the guard's house were allocated for burial purposes. On the area of 0.82 hectares, there were 1,977 burial plots. In this situation, the Jewish community of Cieszyn bought land in 1898 to establish a new cemetery and began efforts to obtain appropriate permits.
During World War II, in 1939, the German authorities closed the cemetery for burial purposes. In 1941, the necropolis was confiscated for the benefit of the Third Reich. In March 1943, a decision was made to transform both Jewish cemeteries in Cieszyn into recreational parks, but they were not devastated until the end of the war and survived almost intact.
After the end of the war, the local population stole some matzevot for construction purposes. In order to counteract the progressive devastation, in 1986 the cemetery was entered into the register of monuments. After 1989, ad hoc cleaning works were carried out on an ongoing basis, incl. the crumbling fragment of the brick wall surrounding the cemetery was pulled down.
On the area of 0.8 ha, 1,576 tombstones have survived, including a group of matzevot from the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. The oldest of them commemorates Estera, daughter of Józef, who died on March 8, 1686.
The cemetery is fenced with a brick wall, heavily damaged in many places, with an entrance gate from the side of the public road. The boundaries of the necropolis are in line with the boundaries of 1939.
