Ukraine: Jewish Foundation of Ukraine and Lo Tishkach Plans Cemetery Survey by Young People

Ukraine: Jewish Foundation of Ukraine d Lo Tishkach Plan Cemetery Survey by Young People
by Samuel D. Gruber

(ISJM)The Jewish Foundation of Ukraine (JFU) and the "Lo Tishkach" Foundation will begin a joint research project on Jewish cemeteries and mass graves of Holocaust victims of the Chernihiv region of Ukraine. Similar surveys backed by historical research, local interviews and education projects are also to be launched at hundreds of sites across the Zhytomyr, Zakarpattia and Dnipropetrovsk regions of Ukraine with a national teacher-training program on the subject across the country.

According to the JFU, a key objective of the project is to draw the attention of young people to Jewish history and values and “to build cross-cultural communication, to foster tolerance in society and help [Jewish] young people connect to their past.” Project participants will explore all the Jewish cemeteries and known places of execution of Jews in the area. In this, the groups will follow in the footsteps of the young people of the Jewish Preservation Committee of Ukraine, which was active in the 1990s, and first identified many of these sites, including 44 cemeteries in the Chernihiv Region.

The project will begin this month (November 2009) and continue until August 2010. One-day seminars will provide training in research, and also instruction about the history of Jewish life of the region, Jewish traditions, and the history of the Holocaust.

At the conclusion of the project there will be a seminar for all participants, which will present the results of the research, and plan for the future of memorial sites in the region.

Germany: New Dedications at Lieberose and Siegburg

Germany: New Dedications at Lieberose and Siegburg

(ISJM) Here are notices of two recent monument dedications in Germany that I missed. The information comes from German press accounts reports in the July Newsletter of the Lo Tishkach Foundation. - SDG

Memorial Stone Unveiled in Siegburg Jewish Cemetery

10 June 2009 - In the presence of Holocaust survivors, the mayor of the German city of Siegburg has unveiled a memorial stone in the local Jewish cemetery. The stone, featuring a plaque with the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is part of a project co-ordinated by the Cologne Archbishopric and local secondary schools. On the same day, a new oak tree was also planted in the cemetery.

Jewish Cemetery to be Consecrated at the Site of a Former Concentration Camp in Eastern Germany

9 June 2009 - On 16 June, Rabbi Menachem Halevi Klein of Frankfurt consecrated the site of a former concentration camp in the Brandenburg town of Lieberose. The area was identified as a mass grave in 1958, when the remains of twelve Holocaust victims were located and exhumed. Additional remains belonging to 577 victims were located and exhumed in 1971; they will be reburied during the consecration next week. Recent excavations aimed at finding an estimated 753 additional remains were unsuccessful, but the Central Council of Jews in Germany is demanding searches be resumed.

Established in 1943 as part of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, the Lieberose camp was dissolved in February 1945 and 1342 individuals were shot to death. Read the original articles here and here.

Germany: New Vandalism at Jewish Cemeteries

Germany: Vandalism in June at Jewish Cemeteries in Salzgitter, Düsseldorf, and Göttingen

(ISJM) I have reported before that summer always seems to produce an upswing in incidents of vandalism at Jewish (and all) cemeteries. Maybe anti-Semitic thugs are fair-weather vandals, preferring good weather for their destructive acts. Spring and summer certainly bring out the teenage (and other) drinkers and drug-users who are known to frequent cemeteries for their private pleasures - their vandalism is just due to "mischief," not bigotry and hate. And then, summer is the time when visitors most frequent cemeteries - and sometimes old vandalism is discovered.

Whatever the causes, there seems no slowing of vandalism of Jewish cemeteries in Europe today. Hardly a week goes by without at least one verified report. In addition to the reports that I post on this blog, the Lo Tishcach Foundation is now monitoring these events and including them in their Newsletter. The July 2009 edition includes the following reports of vandalism at German cemeteries that I had missed.

Salzgitter Jewish Cemetery Vandalised

9 June 2009 - Six gravestones have been toppled in the Wolfenbüttel Jewish Cemetery in the German city of Salzgitter. According to the local municipality, removing the damages caused by the vandals will cost some 4000 Euros. The police have launched an investigation. Read the original article (in German).

Düsseldorf Jewish Cemetery Vandalised

8 June 2009 - 17 gravestones have been toppled in the Urdenbacher Kämpen Jewish Cemetery in Düsseldorf, four of which have been damaged beyond repair. The police have launched an investigation. Established in 1830, the cemetery was in use until 1920 and is one of about ten Jewish cemeteries in the Düsseldorf area. Read the original article (in German).

Göttingen Jewish Cemetery Vandalised

1 June 2009 - Three gravestones have been vandalised in the Dransfeld Jewish Cemetery in the German city of Göttingen. A swastika was carved into one of the stones. The police have launched an investigation. Read the original article (in German).

Spain: Toledo Cemetery Dispute Resolved with Reburial of Bones in Original Graves

Spain: Toledo Cemetery Dispute Resolved with Reburial of Bones in Original Graves
by Samuel D. Gruber

Philip Carmel, International Relations Director of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER) and Executive Director of the Lo Tishcach Foundation announced today that on Sunday June 21, “all of the bones removed from the medieval cemetery in Toledo were reburied in the actual graves from which they had been removed. This was achieved after protracted negotiations which only reached fruition last Thursday in Madrid” Last autumn human bones from 105 distinct graves had been uncovered and then removed as part of an archaeological excavation of the cemetery in advance of construction planned for a school on the adjacent property. Local authorities, who supported the construction project, had offered to delivery the bones for reburial elsewhere.

The opinions of Spanish archaeologists – including those who carried out the careful rescue excavation – were mixed, with many viewing the bones as valuable historical resources for better understanding aspects of medieval Jewish life. International Jewish religious organizations including the CER and the Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries in Europe (CPJCE) had demanded that the bones be returned to their original resting place rejecting both the possible retention of the remains for study and the reburial of the remains elsewhere were strenuously opposed by

There were widespread concerns that removal of the bones elsewhere would establish a precedent for clearing old cemeteries of burials in order to facilitate property development. Most scholars of Jewish law will allow the removal of Jewish remains from a cemetery only in situations of utmost danger to the site and other methods to protect a site have failed. Even then, excavation and removal of remains should be done under rabbinic supervision.

Carmel, speaking for the CER, maintained the greatest difficulties were with the local government of Toledo, not with national leaders. “Toledo has a unique place in the history of the Golden Age of the Jews of Spain and the Spanish government understood this and constantly sought to persuade the local government to respect the sanctity of this site,” Carmel said. “Throughout our negotiations with the Toledo authorities, we insisted that these Toledo Jews be buried in exactly the same graves from which they were removed. They intended this site as their eternal resting place and it was our duty to ensure they were reburied according to their wishes,” he added.

The reburial of the remains took place yesterday (June 21) and was not widely publicized. According to Carmel the ceremony was, however, attended by local and national government representatives, leaders of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Spain and the president of the CPJCE, Rabbi Elyokim Schlesinger, who personally supervised the burial preparations. Since negotiations ended on Thursday the 18th, the push to rebury on Sunday was presumably taken to avoid any possible challenges or delays to the decision. It also allowed the 87-year-old Rabbi Schlesinger to oversee the reburial, since he was already present as port of the negotiations. Thus, re-burial took place as soon, apparently, after the Sabbath as possible.

According to Carmel, “This remarkable and historic solution brings a satisfactory conclusion to a chapter which has seen a tremendous degree of solidarity and cooperation on the part of the Spanish government and the local Jewish federation and a willingness to work together with the Conference of European Rabbis and the Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries in Europe to achieve an amicable solution within the boundaries of Halachah”

The result of the negotiations appears to be a victory of sorts for those (including myself) who have advocated for greater recognition of medieval Jewish sites as part of a living tradition, rather than as inert remnants of an extinct culture or civilization. While these sites need to be studied and presented more effectively to the large Jewish and Spanish populations, they need to be treated respectfully, too. Even the most careful archaeology – if it runs counter to Jewish tradition or law – cannot be deemed respectful. Alternative essentially non-invasive means of investigation of cemeteries must be further developed.

An important outcome of this settlement is that the site will be marked and maintained as a cemetery – and NOT developed. This should send a strong signal to municipalities and developers throughout Spain that they should not try to usurp cemetery sites. This needs to give further impetus to scholarly efforts to better pinpoint the likely locations of what may be hundreds of Jewish cemeteries throughout Spain. Many of these are not as unknown as one would think – even five hundred years after the Expulsion. They are remembered in toponyms, in land documents, maps and traveller’s accounts, and local legends and lore.

Toledo already attracts as many tourists in search of Jewish heritage as any other place in Spain. The remains of two historic synagogues – one of which is now home to the Museo Sefardi – is a strong attraction. Now, the cemetery site can be added to this. Even though there will be little to see (there are no surviving contemporary gravestone in situ – the reminder of Toledo’s “Golden Era” will be strong at the site.

According to Carmel: “I hope that our work to save this historic cemetery in Toledo will prove to be a prototype for how governments, local Jewish communities and representative Jewish organizations can work together for the benefit of preserving these cemeteries in Europe."

In related news, a few weeks ago the government of Catalonia declared the Jewish cemetery in Barcelona - known as Montjuic - an historic site. I am still collecting details about what this will mean for the future of this cemetery - once on of the largest Jewish burial grounds of Spain. In 2001, 557 graves were excavated there and one gravestone (matzevah) fragment was unearthed. The fate of the remains removed form the graves is unknown to the public. Presumably, there has been adequate time for them to be documented and studied. Arrangements should be made for reburial. The precedent of Toledo should, I hope, speed such action.

Ukraine: Lo Tishkach Foundation Issues Report on Jewish Cemeteries

Ukraine: Lo Tishkach Foundation Issues Report on Jewish Cemeteries

(ISJM) The Lo Tishkach Foundation has published another in its series of legislative and practice reports, that examine the situation – especially the legal situation - of Jewish burial grounds in different countries in Europe. The Preliminary Report on Legislation & Practice Relating to the Protection and Preservation of Jewish Burial Grounds was prepared by Andreas Becker for Lo Tishkach with the support of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany & the Conference of European Rabbis. It uses as its starting point the 2005 report Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues, and Mass Grave Sites in Ukraine, published by the US Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad. If someone is interested in obtaining a copy, they may contact Lo Tishkach at info@lo-tishkach.org.

The Lo Tishkach European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative was established in 2006 as a joint project of the Conference of European Rabbis and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. It aims to guarantee the effective and lasting preservation and protection of Jewish cemeteries and mass graves throughout the European continent. Identified by the Hebrew phrase Lo Tishkach (‘do not forget’), the Foundation is establishing a comprehensive publicly-accessible database of all Jewish burial grounds in Europe, currently featuring details on over 9,500 Jewish cemeteries and mass graves. Lo Tishkach is also producing 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.

The following summary text is extracted form the report:

Report Findings

• Numbers: According to surveys carried out in 1995-1996 by the Jewish Heritage Preservation Committee under the umbrella of VAAD and in co-operation with international research institutes, there are currently about 1,200 known Jewish mass graves and up to 1,000 Jewish cemeteries in Ukraine. Since the Soviet Union did not hold records on Jewish cemeteries, the Committee’s survey is currently the most comprehensive list of Jewish burial grounds in Ukraine.

• Ownership: Municipalities own the majority of cemeteries in Ukraine. The land of mass grave sites may also be privately owned. Many Jewish burial grounds, however, are abandoned, not recognised as such and receive no legal protection. Only a very small number of burial grounds are Jewish-owned.

• Maintenance: Pursuant to Ukrainian burial legislation, municipalities are required to maintain the burial grounds that they own. Typically, special municipal companies take care of this. However, since many Jewish burial grounds are not recognised as such, they receive no public maintenance whatsoever or have to rely on private initiatives.

• Legal situation: A number of provisions in different bodies of law may be used to campaign for better protection and preservation of Jewish burial grounds in Ukraine.
They include the Ukrainian constitution, legislation on the freedom of conscience and religion, burial legislation, cultural heritage legislation as well as the criminal code. However, the lack of identification and municipal and state recognition of numerous Jewish burial grounds remains the single most important obstacle to extending legal protection to these sites.

• Recommendations:

• Identification of all Jewish cemeteries and mass graves in Ukraine;

• Legal recognition of all burial grounds as such in order to protect these sites from future development and other threats;

• A negotiated solution between the Jewish community, municipalities and the national government on ownership and maintenance of currently unrecognised Jewish burial grounds;

• Demarcation and signposting of currently abandoned burial grounds, both to
afford better protection and to protect the memory of those who perished in
the Holocaust

Publication: New Catalog of Jewish Cemeteries of Masovian Region, Poland

Publication: New Catalog of Jewish Cemeteries of Masovian Region, Poland
by Samuel D. Gruber

(ISJM) A report on the current state of Poland’s Jewish cemeteries published last October has revealed that dozens still lie unmarked and neglected while many others have been built over completely. Commissioned by the Lo Tishkach Foundation, the report Jewish Cemeteries of Poland: Masovian Region, focuses on the 126 Jewish burial grounds of the Masovian Voivodeship, Poland’s largest region.

For me, reading the report is mostly distressing, since it indicates that there has been a change for the better for only a small number of cemeteries sites since I published (with Phyllis Myers, Lena Bergman and Jan Jagielski) the first comprehensive survey of Polish Jewish cemeteries in 1994 (updated and revised in 1995). It is important that that survey, undertaken in partnership between the US Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad and the World Monuments Fund, be up dated for all of Poland. In the Masovian Region - which as the result of administrative reorganization comprises several of the districts listed in the US Commission survey report - 126 cemeteries listed in the new survey, only 20 (15.9%) of which are deemed protected - that is identified, delineated and maintained. All the other sites remain in some manner at risk.

Still, there are some successes, and these frequently involve local non-Jewish communities. To read summaries of some local cemetery preservation projects in Poland click here.

For more on Lo Tishkach see my earlier blog post: Lo Tishkach Works to List All European Jewish Cemeteries.

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.