Established in the Praga district in late 1780s at the initiative of Szmul Jakubowicz Zbytkower, a renowned entrepreneur and the royal banker at King Stanisław August Poniatowski’s court. Jewish inhabitants of the right bank of the Vistula were buried there until World War II. The cemetery was devastated during the Nazi occupation and many tombstones and monuments were broken up and used for construction work. Other gravestones were destroyed after the war and in 1946-1947 they were placed in the center of the cemetery; currently there are around 300 tombstones standing. Notable Warsaw Jewish families, such as the Bergsons, Nissenbaums and Sonnenbergs are buried there. Renowned scientist Abraham Stern (1768-1842) is also buried there, and so is the founder of the cemetery, Szmul Zbytkower himself.