Lo Tishkach Works to List All European Jewish Cemeteries

Lo Tishkach Works to List All European Jewish Cemeteries & Laws That Affect Them
by Samuel D. Gruber

(ISJM) The Lo Tishkach (Hebrew: ‘do not forget’) Foundation European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative was founded in 2006 as a joint project of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER) and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. The Foundation's goal is to guarantee the effective and lasting preservation and protection of Jewish cemeteries and mass graves throughout the European continent.

This is hardly the first such effort, but it may be the best organized to date, though according to Executive Director Philip Carmel, the Foundation works on a tight budget, and is dependent on a small staff and the efforts of many volunteers. One of the biggest challenges since 2006 has been to gain the trust of and forge partnerships with the many local regional and countrywide organizations that have already invested heavily in time, labor and funds in the documentation of Jewish cemeteries and in some cases, organizing their protection and preservation. Carmel notes that this is not a competitive effort but a cooperative one. The number of Jewish cemeteries in Europe remains unknown, but with 8,593 already listed in Lo Tishkach's database, it seems certain that more than 10,000 sites will eventually be identified. Just listing the cemeteries and trying to gain some little information about them is a difficult job, and keeping track of even a part of these is an almost impossible task. There is room for everyone's participation.

I should know, since I've probably been as involved in this work over the past twenty years as anyone. Through my work with the World Monuments Fund, and then as Research Director of the US Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, I've helped organize countrywide inventories and site surveys of Jewish cemeteries in a dozen countries. I'm delighted that there will now be a central place where this information and more up-to-date reports can be processed, stored and made public. More importantly, since Lo Tishkach is affiliated with the Conference of European Rabbis, there is hope for establishing some consistent standards for documentation and conservation. Now, efforts are often haphazard, and so-called conservation and preservation measures are often destructive rather than protective.

Still, whether Lo Tishkach will become an umbrella organization or part of a network remains to be seen. I think if the project can stay funded and active for a few more years, it will earn its position and the respect and appreciation of other organization,s institutions and the hundreds of Jewish communities across Europe. ISJM has agreed to make its files and lists of cemeteries available to Lo Tishkach for use.

Based in Brussels, Lo Tishkach received its official royal decree formally establishing the organization as a Foundation of Public Utility under Belgian law (no. 899.211.180) in June 2008.

The foundation has set itself two important start-up goals. First, is the creation of a comprehensive publicly-accessible database featuring up to date information on all Jewish burial grounds in Europe. This work obviously builds on previous inventories compiled by the Commission and its partners, and by local Jewish communities and monuments authorities. It is doubtful that any country has a complete list of all Jewish cemeteries, since over time, especially in Western Europe, most pre-modern cemeteries have been lost to memory. In Central and Eastern Europe and in the Balkans the destruction of the Holocaust and the policies of Communism have wiped out traces of hundreds of cemeteries, and added to these are the (often unknown) sites of mass graves.

The second goal is the compilation of a compendium of the different national and international laws and practices affecting these sites, to be used as a starting point to advocate for the better protection and preservation of Europe’s Jewish heritage. This is a policy begun by the Commission in the early 1990s (see the reports I edited with Phyllis Myers on Poland and the Czech Republic). But laws change, and in many countries there are many different types of laws that affect burial sites. These include cultural heritage laws, land use laws, religious practice laws, human rights policies, etc.

Lo Tishkach is systematically attempting to identify all laws in effect for each country and to post these. Gradually, they are being analysis to see their affect upon cemetery protection and preservation. In many cases laws need to be changed - but governments many government have been loathe to do so. Some of these laws are already posted on the Lo Tishkach website. Some reports are not yet posted, but are available from the Foundation. Legislation has currently been obtained for some 15 of the 48 countries in the remit of the project (see the Compendium of Legislation for more details).

According to the Lo Tishkach website: "A third aim of the project is to engage young Europeans in this process, bringing Europe’s history alive, giving a valuable insight into Jewish culture and mobilising young people of all faiths to care for our common heritage. Groups trained by Lo Tishkach will visit Jewish burial sites across Europe, beginning in Poland and Ukraine, gathering vital information on Jewish life and culture in each area and submitting cemetery condition reports that will be used as the basis for actions to preserve and protect these important sites."

The Lo Tishkach European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative founding partners are: The Conference of European Rabbis federates Jewish religious leaders in over 40 European countries and includes all the continent’s chief rabbis and senior rabbinical judges. The CER holds consultancy status as an international non-governmental organisation at the Council of Europe and within the institutions of the European Union.

The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany works to secure compensation and restitution for survivors of the Holocaust and heirs of victims. Since 1951, the Claims Conference – working in partnership with the State of Israel – has negotiated for and distributed payments from Germany, Austria, other governments, and certain industry; recovered unclaimed German Jewish property; and funded programs to assist the neediest Jewish victims of Nazism.

OPERATIONAL PARTNERS

• European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS)
• Foundation for Jewish Cemeteries in Hungary (MAZSIT)
• Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland (FODZ)
• JewishGen
• Jewish Community of Cyprus
• Jewish Community of Warsaw
• International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS)
• Rabbinic Commission for Cemeteries (Poland)

The Foundation is looking for assistance with the collection of any legislation which does not currently feature in the Compendium, and particularly for those countries for which legislation has not been found. As a guide, appropriate legislation may include that dealing with the protection of monuments, burial sites or war graves.

The Foundation aims to collate all appropriate legislation in both English and the original language, we would also greatly appreciate any voluntary assistance with translation from anyone fluent in an Eastern or Central European language and English.

For further information please e-mail volunteering@lo-tishkach.org or telephone +32 (0) 2 649 11 08.

Cemetery Condition Reports

The foundation also invites volunteers to use the website to fill out forms about visited cemeteries. If you have recently visited a Jewish cemetery anywhere in Europe, or plan to make a visit in the future you can send a Cemetery Update. This inclusive practice is adapted from the policy of the Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies, but with the intent of greater scrutiny for consistency and accuracy. If you are interested in volunteering as a Cemetery Condition Officer and submitting reports for a number of cemeteries in your area, please contact volunteering@lo-tishkach.org or telephone +32 (0) 2 649 11 08.