The Jewish cemetery in Vorst was established in 1861 at Strombusch, now Gotthardusweg. Before establishing their own cemetery, the Jews of Vorst used burial grounds in Anrath and Kempen.  The cemetery in Vorst was in use from after 1861 until 1938. During the Nazi era – in the early 1940s – gravestones were collected, ground down, and used for the construction of the new mortuary at Gotthardus Hospital. Today, no one knows if any of these stones still exist or where they are. They have not resurfaced.

On July 11, 1940, the cemetery, which had already been desecrated, was vandalized. The perpetrators were never identified. In 1944, the municipality of Vorst used the forest cemetery for the burial of Allied soldiers who had died in plane crashes. In 1947, the bodies were exhumed and transferred to the war memorial cemetery in Kleve.

The Jewish cemetery in Vorst was added to the list of protected monuments in Tönisvorst in June 2008. Today, a stone marks the former graves.