In the last decade of the nineteenth century, a traditional Jewish cemetery
was established in the small town of Bagnowka, located near the urban center of Bialystok in current
northeastern Poland. Though governed then by Tsarist Russia, Bialystok was still inspired by the
teachings of the Torah, the Talmud, and the greater rabbinic community. Yet this was also a time of
societal upheaval as a wave of modernity swept over Eastern Europe, bringing with it religious
diversity, revolution, and a more secular way of life that would also impact the structure and
material culture of this cemetery. Bagnowka: A Modern Jewish Cemetery on the Russian Pale tells the
story of this cemetery from its founding in 1892 to its devastation during and after the Holocaust,
as well as its recent restoration-in-progress. Drawing on Bagnowka & rsquo;s epitaphs and
tombstone art, archival records, period newspapers, photographs, and more, Heidi M. Szpek reveals
how this cemetery serves as a reflection of a once traditional Jewish world impacted by modernity.
