The cemetery was established in 1815 on the land purchased by the Jewish community in 1795.
The last burial was made in 1937, when Ernestina Hahn was buried, and the necropolis was finally closed in 1953. After 1945, tombstones made of valuable stones were stolen and used as a building material. The cemetery was taken from the Jewish community in 1956, and in the 1970s its liquidation was planned in connection with the planned construction of a flyover over the railway tracks in the axis of Dworcowa and Tarnogórska streets. Ultimately, the liquidation did not take place due to the historical and artistic value of the building.
After World War II, in the building of the former pre-funeral home, there was a carpentry workshop, and then a common room.
The cemetery covers an area of 0.63 ha. About 500 tombstones have survived to this day. They were placed in neat rows. Gray sandstone matzevot, topped with triangular or semicircular shapes, with Hebrew or German and Hebrew inscriptions were dominant. They were also decorated with Old Testament symbols. The oldest tombstones have inscriptions made in a raised engraving in Hebrew. The most impressive is the Meyer family tomb. There are also burials at the cemetery, among others family members: Troplowitz, Frankel, Freud and Froehlich. In the part for children, among others, Edith Stein's siblings.