Kosovo: Can New Treaty Stop Continued Deterioration of "New" Jewish Cemetery of Pristina?

Pristina, Kosovo. "New" Jewish Cemetery. Photos: Ivan Ceresnjes (2012)

Kosovo:  Can New Treaty Stop Continued Deterioration of "New" Jewish Cemetery of Pristina?
by Samuel D. Gruber 

(ISJM)  The fate of long-neglected Jewish sites in the newly independent small and poor country of Kosovo has recently received some attention.  On December 14, 2011, U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton  and Kosovo’s President Atifete Jahjaga signed the Agreement on the Protection and Preservation of Certain Cultural Properties between the U.S. and Kosovo in Washington, D.C. The agreement, one of many originated over the past two decades by the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, sets commitments and procedures for each side to protect cultural heritage sites, especially of religious and ethnic minorities.  In the past two decades the Commission has given special attention to the documentation and protection of Jewish and Holocaust-related sites mostly through sponsoring site surveys and encouraging U.S. donors to support conservation, restoration and commemoration projects.

According to Secretary Clinton "this is a really important agreement that we are signing today, because the United States has a special interest in helping to preserve cultural heritage sites in countries around the world, because the vast majority of Americans are immigrants and descendents of immigrants. So the work of this commission is of great importance to us."  You can read all of Secretary Clinton's remarks here.

Pristina, Kosovo. "New" Jewish Cemetery. Examples of deteriorated gravestones. Photos: Ivan Ceresnjes, (2012).

Ivan Ceresnjes, former head of the Bosnia Jewish Community and now a researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has been visiting Kosovo regularly for the past decade and reporting on the continued deterioration of the Jewish sites.  Ceresnjes, who has organized surveys of Jewish sites of Bosnia and Serbia for the U.S. Commission is particularly concerned about the fate of the "New" Jewish cemetery in the capital city Pristina.  He feels this would an ideal project for international protection and conservation in the wake of the new treaty.

This month (January 2012) he made his fifth visit since 2002  to  Pristina's  "New" Jewish cemetery on Dragodan, next to Serbian Orthodox cemetery.  From Kosovo, Ceresnjes emailed the International Survey of Jewish Monuments (ISJM) these pictures:



He wrote: "Last time, a year ago ... I tried to see what is going on with the New Cemetery since I have seen from afar the huge infrastructural works being held around it but it was impossible to approach due to flooding of the area of both cemeteries (Jewish and Serbian) with sewage.  [Now] in light of recent signing of the agreement between government of USA and present government of Kosovo I am just informing all of you about the sad reality on the ground - the quick and merciless destruction and disappearance of the heritage of one of the smallest and maybe the most endangered minority in Kosovo - the Jewish one."

Pristina, Kosovo. "New" Jewish Cemetery. Photo: Ivan Ceresnjes (2012)

In addition to the continuing process of destruction by neglect at the "New cemetery and other sites, their was been vandalism against Jewish sites, too.   Just last month, in December, 2011shortly before the cultural heritage treaty was signed in Washington, the Old Jewish Cemetery in Pristina, which had been cleaned last June by a group of students from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and their peers from the American University in Kosovo was vandalized and swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans were spray painted on old gravestones.

In 2008, Ceresnjes wrote at length about the difficulty of protecting Jewish hertiage sites - and memory of Jewish history - in the former Yugoslavia. (The Destruction of the Memory of Jewish Presence in Eastern Europe: A Case Study: Former Yugoslavia, 2008):  Of Kosovo he wrote: "there were about 500 Jews before the Second World War, of whom 250 were handed over to the Germans by Kosovar Albanians. There were also a few examples where Kosovars killed Jews, and there was also a Kosovar SS unit. About twenty righteous gentiles helped the other 250 Jews escape to Albania where the Jews were protected.  After the war, in Kosovo's capital, Pristina, a huge memorial was erected for all victims of Nazism including the partisans and the Jews. When the Serbian-Albanian fighting broke out in Kosovo in 1999, almost all names were removed, also including most of the Albanians who were considered communists. Kosovo is such a tightly knit society that everyone knows who was or wasn't a communist." 

USA: Olean, NY Synagogue Added to National Register

USA: Olean, New York  Synagogue (1929) Added to National Register of Historic Places

Two weeks ago I gave a lecture about New York synagogues, with special attention given to the large numbers of historic structures that have been named local protected sites and/or added to the National Register of Historic Places. At the time I didn't know of the latest synagogue addition to the National Register; the 1929 Temple B'nai Israel at 127 South Barry Street in Olean, a small city in the southwestern part of the state.  The National Register nomination was prepared by Katie Eggers Comeau of Bero Architecture PLLC in Rochester.

Olean, NY. Temple B'nai Israel. Photo: Katie Eggers Comeau for NR Nomination

Olean, NY. Temple B'nai Israel. Photo: Katie Eggers Comeau for NR Nomination

Olean, NY. Temple B'nai Israel. Photo: Katie Eggers Comeau for NR Nomination

In the past twenty years the number of landmarked synagogues in New York State has grown into the hundreds.  Originally, many structures were designated because they stood within the borders of historic districts - of which there are so many in New York City.  Over the years, however, as interest in historic religious structures has grown, more and more synagogues have been listed individually.  In some instances this work has been spurred by organized regional surveys (as in Sullivan County). Outside of New York City many congregations, such a my own Temple Concord in Syracuse, have taken the lead in recognizing the history of their congregations and buildings and have prepared or sponsored the preparation of National Register nominations. There is also the recognition that NR designation can help in fund-raising for the ongoing maintenance and repair of historic structures through the Sacred Sites Program of the New York Landmarks Conservancy and other agencies.

Temple B’Nai Israel, designed for the Olean Hebrew Congregation by local architect J. Milton Hurd (1895-1982) was dedicated on September 29, 1929, shortly before the much larger by stylistically related Temple Emanuel in Manhattan.   Plans for the synagogue had been discussed for more than a decade, and Hurd was hired in 1927.  Hurd was a graduate of Cornell in 1916, and seems to have worked exclusively in the region of Olean.  Biographical information is provided in the NR nomination, but little is know of his other work.  For the synagogue design he was certainly indebted to recent synagogues erected in New York City, many of which had been published in architecture magazines.

Olean's B'nai Israel's  facade is dominated by a massive arch with common version of a Jewish 'rose' window.  The NR nomination rightly compares it to New York City's  B’Nai Jeshurun in Manhattan (Henry Herts & Walter Schneider, 1917-18) and Temple Beth-El in Brooklyn (Shampan & Shampan, 1920), to which we can add the demolished Mount Nebo Synagogue (formerly on 79th Street in Manhattan).  Walter Schneider also designed Mount Nebo  and thus probably deserves much of the credit for the popularity of this particular type of Byzantine-inspired synagogue facade type.  The building also should be compared to the much larger complementary Temple Emanuel in Manhattan (Clarence Stein, Robert D. Kohn, and Charles Butler, archs., 1927-1930). Variations of the Byzantine style were favored for synagogue design throughout the United States in the period between word War I and the Great Depression.

Click here to read the full National Register file on Temple B'Nai Israel

Brooklyn, New York. Temple Beth El (now Young Israel Beth El), Shampan & Shampan, archs, 1920 . Photo: Samuel D. Gruber

New York. NY. Mount Nebo Synagogue, Walter Schneider, arch, 1927-28 (demolished, 1985). Photo: Courtesy of New York Landmarks Conservancy

New York, NY. Temple Emanuel, dedicated January 1927-1930. Photo: Paul Rocheleau. 

Jews began to settle in Olean the 1880s when the city began to flourish as an early center of oil production (A history of the Jewish settlement, its most prominent members with sources is provided in the National Register nomination).  Personal memories of growing up Jewish in Olean by Carol Levine  can be read in Tablet Magazine.

Bulgaria: Survey of Jewish Sites Published

Bulgaria: Survey of Jewish Sites Published

The United States Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad has published a survey of Jewish Historic Monuments and Sites in Bulgaria, including information on the location, history and condition of synagogues and cemeteries.  Some of this material has been posted on the website Jewish Heritage Europe and has circulated in other formats, but its has never been assembled in easy access and illustrated report form.  The Commission report is posted in two parts.
Jewish Historic Monuments and Sites in Bulgaria, Part 1
Jewish Historic Monuments and Sites in Bulgaria, Part 2

 Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Restored Synagogue. Photo: Samuel Gruber (2004)

Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Restored Synagogue. Photo: Samuel Gruber (2004)

Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Restored Synagogue. U.S. Commission members Levy and Bandler at re-dedication. Photo: Samuel Gruber (2004)

The survey includes information from several sources, including my own visits, to synagogues and former synagogues in  Burgas (Bourgas), Dupnitsa (Dupnica), Gotze Delchev (formerly Nevrokop), Haskovo, Pazardjik, Plovdiv, Ruse (Ruosse), Samokov, Sofia, Varna, Vidin, Yambol (Iambol).  The synagogues of Sofia and Plovdiv have been restored in recent years and continue as religious and cultural centers.  Many former synagogue,s however, such as those in Vidin, Varna and Samakov survive as only as ruins.

Varna, Bulgaria. Sephardi Synagogue in ruins.  Photo: Samuel D. Gruber (2004). 

Vidin, Bulgaria. Sephardi Synagogue in ruins.  Photo: Samuel D. Gruber (2002).

The most substantial part of the report includes mostly unknown and unpublished results and photographs from site visits by teams organized by the Jewish Community of Bulgaria to cemeteries in Burgas (Bourgas), Chirpan (Shirpan), Dupnitsa (Dupnica), Gotze Delchev (formerly Nevrokop) , Haskovo, Karnobat, Kazanlak, Kyustendil, Lom, Pazardjik, Pleven, Plovdiv, Ruse (Rousse), Samokov, Shumen (Kolarovgrad, 1950 – 1966), Silistra, Sliven, Sofia, Varna, Vidin, and Yambol (Iambol).

While some of these cemeteries are well maintained, most have suffered significant damage from vandalism and neglect. For further information about any of these sites researchers should contact the Organization of Jews in Bulgaria - Shalom (info@shalom.bg).

Pleven, Bulgaria. The Jewish Cemetery is one of the largest and most in need of repair. Photo: Courtesy of US Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad

Vidin, Bulgaria. The large Jewish Cemetery has been systematically vandalized, with most graves opened and plundered (purportedly by people looking for gold).  Jewish Cemetery. Photo: Courtesy of Us Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad

Despite the relatively small size of the survey and the report, it was a long time in the making.  It began in 2002 when the Commission signed a cultural heritage agreement with the government of Bulgaria. I was then Research Director of the Commission and we began to organize a series of countrywide surveys to identify cultural and historic sites of religious and ethnic minorities whose heritage insufficiently recognized by culture authorities, or entirely ignored.   Over several years teams identified and visited Muslim, Christian, Roma and Jewish sites throughout Bulgaria.  In 2010 the Commission released a report on Muslim Sites, based on the extensive research of Stephen Lewis.  A report on  Protestant Christian sites in Bulgaria is forthcoming. 

Many people worked on the survey of Jewish sites.  In 2003, historical research was prepared as a section of an overview of various ethnic and religious minority historic and artistic sites in Bulgaria
by Professors Mark Stefanovich and Evelina Kelbetcheva of the American University in Bulgaria.  A second part of the survey took place in 2005 and 2006 and included site visits, descriptions, and extensive photography of Jewish cemeteries. The Organization of the Jews in Bulgaria, “Shalom,” carried out this stage of the work. Becca Lazarova arranged for the survey on behalf of “Shalom.”  On several visits to Bulgaria in 2003 and 2004 I  made site visits to the synagogues and Jewish cemeteries in Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, and Vidin.  Becca Lazarova in Sofia and  Boris Yakov in Varna were gracious hosts.

While some time has passed since the initial draft of this report and its first circulation in 2007, the situation reported has not, to my knowledge, changed in any significant way.  Several important former synagogue remains ruined and without purpose, and cemeteries throughout the country are ruined intentionally by treasure hunters, and naturally by neglect.  Despite their best intentions, the small Jewish community in Bulgaria has limited people and money to address these problems.

Lithuania: Vilnius Middle School has Walls Made of Broken Matzevot

Vilnius, Lithuania. Uzupis cemetery in 2000. Photos: Samuel D. Gruber (2000)

Vilnius, Lithuania. Uzupis cemetery in 2000. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber (2000)

Lithuania: Vilnius Middle School has Walls Made of Broken Matzevot

Eleven years ago I visited the Uzupis Jewish Cemetery in Vilnius (Vilna), Lithuania, or rather what remained of it. In the dark light of winter I climbed the hill of the cemetery to look for traces of gravestones and walls. Where there were approximately 70,000 burials from 1830 through 1948, only a few hundred stones were visible. These were the ones embedded in the hillside. The cemetery had been "liquidated" in the 1960s, when Vilnius was under Society rule. No marker told the story of the site, or the history of the dead.

Over the next few years I worked with the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, of which I was Research Director, to tell that story. Commission Members Harriet Rotter and Steven Some, led the Commission’s contributions to the project. The result was a wall and a monument dedicated in November 2004.

Vilnius, Lithuania. Uzupis Cemetery. Monument under construction and complete. Photo: Ruth Ellen Gruber

Vilnius, Lithuania. Uzupis Cemetery. Monument under construction and complete. Photo: Ruth Ellen Gruber

Vilnius, Lithuania. Uzupis Cemetery. Monument under construction and complete. Photo: Ruth Ellen Gruber

Over the years I wondered where all the stones had gone. The site was only cleared by the Soviets in the 1960s, but all anyone would say was that the matzevot have been removed for building material.

Now we know where some of the stones ended up.

Dovid Katz's writes on the website defendinghistory.com that thousands of fragments of Uzupis Cemetery gravestones are were used to construct walls on the grounds of the Lazdynai Middle School in Vilnius, built in the early 1970s. He and visited the school last week, and photographer Richard Schofield took pictures, and posted a report.

Sounds of Stone Speak: Jewish Gravestones in the Walls of a Middle School in Vilnius

Vilnius, Lithuania. Gravestone fragment in wall at Lazdynai Middle School. Photo: Robert Schofield

Katz writes in part "The school grounds’ outside walls comprised of the pilfered Jewish gravestones have nothing to do with the structure of the school’s building and removing the stones and finding a culturally respectful home for them would not touch the school building with so much as a hair. Moreover, the walls made from the stones extend well beyond the school’s grounds to surrounding parts of Lazdynai, where a large supply of Jewish gravestones were brought from the cemetery site after the city’s Soviet-era administration destroyed the cemetery."

You can see more of Richard Schofield's photography here.

Latvia: New Plaque at Riga's Old Jewish Cemetery

Riga, Latvia. New plaque at Old Jewish Cemetery. Photo courtesy of U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad (2011)

Riga, Latvia. dedication of new plaque at Old Jewish Cemetery. Choir performing in Yiddish before ceremony. Photo courtesy of U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad (2011)

Riga, Latvia. President of the Jewish Communities of Latvia, Arkady Suharenko and Lee Seeman unveiling new plaque at Old Jewish Cemetery. Photo courtesy of U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad (2011)

Riga, Latvia. Old Jewish Cemetery. This how the site looked when I visited with Commission members Lee Seeman and Gary Lavine in 2003. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber (2003).

Latvia: New Plaque at Riga's Old Jewish Cemetery
by Samuel D. Gruber

(ISJM) On June 30, 201 the Jewish Communities of Latvia organized a series of events commemorating the 450th anniversary of the Jewish community in Latvia and to the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust. As part of those events, a new explanatory plaque sponsored by the United States Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad was installed at Riga's Old Jewish Cemetery. Commission member Lee Seeman organized the project and raised the funds.

U.AS. Commission Member Lee Seeman and U.S. Ambassador to Latvia, Judith Garber

I am especially pleased to see Lee's continuing commitment to this project and so many others in the region. We visited the site together in 2003 with Meijers Melers, the preeminent expert on Latvian Jewish sites, and saw the relatively new large boulder on site, with a prominent Jewish Star, but there was no text or other information telling what the site was and what had happened to it. Without an informed guide, we would have been entirely in the dark. Lee Seeman persevered and saw to it that future visitors would not be so perplexed.

In all its projects the U.S. Commission has never felt it enough to charge people to "Never Forget." The Commission insists in all its projects that accurate information is provided to the visitor or viewer to better teach them what to remember. Its previous work in Riga, on the Rumbula massacre and mass grave site monument is a good example.

Riga, Latvia. Old Jewish Cemetery. Impressive memorial stone placed on site in 1990s, but with explanatory text. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber (2003).

The plaque is in Latvian and English. I do not yet have photos to post, but here is the English text:

2011
The old Jewish Cemetery
This is Riga's first Jewish cemetery. It was opened in 1725 and burials continued here until the late 1930s. after German forces occupied Riga in 1941, the prayer house and the mortuary were burned down. the cemetery became a mass burial site for over 1000 Jews killed in the streets and houses of the Riga Ghetto. Following World War Two, many of the cemetery's tombstones were removed and used as building material. Others deteriorated. The wall surrounding the cemetery collapsed, and the site left uncared for fell into disrepair. In the 1960s, the site was razed and renamed "The Park of the Communist Brigades." In 1992, the park was renamed "The Old Jewish Cemetery”

Moldova: First Survey of Moldova Jewish Sites Released

Dubăsari (also Dubossary, Dubasari), Moldova. Holocaust execution site and memorial (1989).

Rashkov, Moldova. The impressive Baroque-style synagogue, built in 1749, is only a ruin with its outer walls and part of the Aron ha-Kodesh (Holy Ark) intact.

Orhei, Moldova. Monument in Jewish cemetery.

Moldova: First Survey of Moldova Jewish Sites Released
by Samuel D. Gruber

(All photos courtesy of Igor Teper and U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad)

Few countries in Central and Eastern Europe have as rich a Jewish history and collection of Jewish history sites as small Moldova, nestled in between Romania and Ukraine. Long a crossroads of cultures, modern Moldova today, however, is little known and rarely mentioned. Jewish communities and Jewish heritage sites in neighboring countries garner more attention and more tourists, though most of the Jewish sites in the region are starved for funds for basic maintenance, let alone restoration. Seven years ago the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, of which I was Research Director, teamed with the Joint Distribution Committee to identify, document and survey as many Jewish historical and Holocaust-related sites as possible within a year.

Orhei, Moldova. House of Haim Rappoport. The story of the Rappoport family parallels the history of the Jews in Bessarabia in the last century. In 1941 the Rappoport family was deported to the concentration camp in Dumanovka where they were kept until 1944. Four of Haim’s sisters died in the camp, but he and his brother survived. After the war, Haim Rappoport returned to Orhei, where he faced repression and false accusation. In April, 1949 until 1956, his family was exiled to Irkutsk (Siberia) by the Soviet government, and his house was requisitioned by the state. Since Moldovan independence, Haim’s son Semeon has managed to successfully claim the property, and after a court decision, it was returned to the family in 2003.

Rybnitsa, Moldova. Memorial to the Martyrs of Rybnitsa Ghetto, dedicated 2004.

The Survey

The survey was carried out by Igor Teper. I collated the information and edited the report which has now been put online at the Commission website. Since I oversaw the survey, edited the report, I take the liberty of quoting one of the sections I wrote, a summary of the history and condition of Jewish Monuments in Moldova (Report, pp. 6-8)

Jewish Monuments in Moldova
(excerpted from Jewish Heritage Sites and Monuments in Moldova (Washington, DC: US Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, 2010).

Prior to the Holocaust, the area that is present-day Moldova was home to a thriving Jewish culture that built and maintained a large number of community buildings for religious, educational, and charitable purposes. In addition, there were many Jewish cemeteries throughout the country serving Jewish communities. The second half of the 19th and the early 20th centuries witnessed the greatest growth of organized Jewish institutions and that is the period from which most surviving buildings date. These include synagogues and community buildings such as schools, hospitals, and old age homes. Some of these institutional buildings are the Jewish sites that have survived best because the facilities have been most easily adapted and reused by successor institutions, often providing services similar to the original.

The destruction wrought during the Holocaust, when German and Romanian occupiers destroyed many synagogues and other Jewish sites, was severe. Further destruction continued during the nearly half century of Soviet rule when scores of buildings were either demolished outright, or were destroyed over time by neglect; and when hundreds of buildings were confiscated by the state and adapted to new uses. It is only in the past several years that efforts have begun to identify all these sites. One important reason is to negotiate the return of many community properties to the Jewish community, or to arrange for proper financial compensation for many others which are not easily returned.

Before the Second World War, there were more than 70 synagogues and prayer houses in Chişinău. Most of these and other communal properties have been inventoried by the Joint Distribution Committee as part of an ongoing effort separate from the survey this report concerns.

The purpose of th[is] survey, which was carried out over a period of one year, was to collect as much information as possible over the location and condition of historic Jewish sites in Moldova – particularly what might be called “sites of memory” – those places where the lost Jewish culture and its destruction can be most closely encountered and best remembered. These places especially include former synagogues, extant cemeteries, and Holocaust-related sites, such as places of execution, mass graves, and post-Second World War commemorative monuments.

Kalarash, Moldova. The attractive classical-style synagogue was built in the middle of the 19^th century and it served the Chabad community until 1940. After the war it was used as an archive and warehouse, and it was returned to the Jewish community in the early 1990’s. The local Jewish community doesn’t have the means to restore it.

Most cemeteries were founded in the 19th century, though there are a few older ones, including the important sites of Dubosari, Lipcani, Markuleşti, Nisporeni, Orhei, Otachi, Rashkov, Rezina, Teleneşty, and Zguritsa. The cemeteries of Chişinău and Bălţi are very large – approximately 100 hectares each – and each probably has more than 20,000 graves. These are the largest recognizable and self-identifying Jewish sites in Moldova. Some Jewish cemeteries, such as Ungheni, are adjacent to, or part of, municipal cemeteries. Some cemeteries, such as Markuleşti, are in very bad condition.

Many older cemeteries still preserve scores – and even hundreds – are beautifully carved gravestones. All have carved epitaphs and many include distinctive decorative reliefs, including favorite motifs of paired rampant lions, the blessing hands of the kohanim, menorahs and rosettes. These carvings are the most typical examples of Eastern European Jewish folk art, and are related in form to other traditional craft representations – particularly those of synagogal wood carving and synagogue and domestic paper cutting. While many stones have been stolen or destroyed in the past half century, the Commission’s survey shows that many survive – unrecorded and also unprotected. Photographs of many lost carved stones survive in the in the work of David Goberman, who recorded Jewish cemeteries in the region during the 1950s and 1960s.

Rashkov, Moldova. The 20,000 sq. meter cemetery is surrounded by a ruined stone wall. The cemetery contains more than 5,000 extant gravestones that date from the 18^th to the 20^th century.The site is now deserted and overgrown and more than half of the stones are toppled or broken.

The newer cemeteries have many more graves, and the monuments at these sites are often more ornate and include multi-stone constructions which combine horizontal and vertical elements. Cemeteries also contain other elements – metal fences around graves, remains of pathways, and in some cases the remains of pre-burial halls where the body of the deceased was prepared for burial, and where mourners could gather to prayer.

Berlintsy, Moldova. Holocaust Monument. On July 7,1941, the entire Jewish population of Berlintsy was executed in the fields outside the town. In 1952, a memorial obelisk was established on the site of their deaths. Semion Katerberg, whose family was killed in the execution, cares for the monument

There are few surviving pre-Second World War synagogue buildings, and the most impressive, the Baroque-style synagogue at Rashkov, is in ruins. The 18th century synagogue of Zguritsa still stands, but is in poor condition. Other, more recent synagogue buildings, when they could be identified, were also found to be in perilously bad condition. The small former synagogue in Gershunovka was transformed into a school during the Soviet period. It is now abandoned, neglected, and in very bad condition.

Chimishliya, Moldova. The Jewish cemetery occupies an area of about 2,000 square meters and contains around 250 extant gravestones. There is also a monument to the victims of the Holocaust. More than half of the stones are toppled or broken. The oldest stones date from the 19^th century. The site’s only protection is a broken wall; it has no regular caretaker.

Vandalism of Jewish cemeteries has continued to be a problem in Moldova, although it appears that there are fewer incidences now than in the 1990s. The worst recorded vandalism was in Tiraspol, capital of the Transnistria breakaway region. In April 2001, the synagogue was attacked with pipe bomb, and then again with a Molotov cocktail in 2004. Also in 2004, the cemetery was the target of vandals who painted 70 gravestones with anti-Semitic graffiti. Local authorities were not helpful in the aftermath.

Nisporeni, Moldova. The Jewish cemetery occupies an area of approximately 20,000 sq. meters with more than 100 gravestones still visible.

There is evidence of vandalism in nearly all the Jewish cemeteries in Moldova, but it is impossible to know exactly when and why this was carried out. Most often, destruction seems random, or to be related to the theft of stones – presumably to be reused elsewhere are either re-cut gravestones or for construction material. This is a situation that has been common throughout all of Central and Eastern Europe for many years. It is hoped that the identification, description and photography that was part of the Commission’s survey will help to control this vandalism, and will also provide basic information about protective and conservation needs at many sites. Already, more cemeteries are being regularly cleared of trash and overgrowth. While this does better expose many sites – including historic gravestones – for both visitors and potential vandals, it is generally believed that the effort to care for long-neglected cemeteries helps to inform local communities (Jewish and non-Jewish) of the value of these places, and encourages local people to better monitor the sites.

According to the Stephen Roth Institute, several Jewish cemeteries have been desecrated since the period of this survey. In early May 2006, 11 gravestones were broken at the Jewish cemetery in Bander, and other cases were reported in Tiraspol, Soroca and Orhei. Nazi symbols and anti-Semitic insults were painted on some graves. The number and location of the execution sites and mass graves of Jews from the period of the Second World War is still being researched. Often, the location of these sites is known only to a few elderly residents, who either personally remember the events, or who heard of them in the post-war period.

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Survey of Jewish Sites Released

Sarajevo, Bosnia. Gate to Old Sephardi Cemetery before restoration. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber / US Commission for Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad (2000)

Sarajevo, Bosnia. Pre-burial house at Old Sephardi Cemetery during restoration. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber / US Commission for Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Survey of Jewish Sites Released
By Samuel D. Gruber

I am pleased to report the release by the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad of a report on the survey of Jewish Heritage Sites of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The survey of over 60 sites was organized and sponsored by the Commission, and carried out by researcher Ivan Ceresnjes, a former leader of the Bosnian Jewish community who is now with the Center for Jewish Art in Jerusalem. I edited the report and contributed to some of the sections when serving as Research Director of the Commission. Ruth Ellen Gruber also provided important information.

Most of the data and photos in the report were collected from the early to mid-2000s. Some additions and corrections were made as late 2008. For the most part the situation for Bosnian Jewish sites has gotten worse except in the major centers of Sarajevo and Mostar.

Mostar, Bosnia. Memorial at Jewish Cemetery.
Photo: Samuel D. Gruber / US Commission for Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad

Donja Gradina, Bosnia. Execution site and memorial. Photo: Ivan Ceresnjes / US Commission for Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad

The report includes information on synagogues, Jewish cemeteries and Holocaust sites in about three dozen towns. Most of this materials has never been published.The survey focused on cemeteries and Holocaust-related sites. Synagogues and former synagogues are listed and briefly described, but photos of synagogues are no not included.

Tuzla, Bosnia. Boot-shaped"gravestones at Jewish cemetery.
Photo: Ivan Ceresnjes / US Commission for Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad

I first got involved in Jewish heritage sites in Bosnia when the Commission helped raise funds and organize the restoration of the prayer and pre-burial house at the venerable Sephardi cemetery in Sarajevo. The cemetery had suffered greatly during the Siege of Sarajevo and the building had been heavily damaged by fire. A picture of the restored structure is on the cover of the report. Many other sites have not fared so well. Many sites are still in ruins, and cemeteries are overgrown. Some cemeteries may still have landmines from the civil war.

The Commission has also recently posted edited versions of my reports on the surveys of Jewish sites in Romania and Moldova. In all, the Commission organized close to 20 countrywide surveys of Jewish and other religious and ethnic minority sites during the years I was involved as Research Director. We did this work on shoestring budgets, always collaborating with local experts and enthusiasts and making our findings available to local Jewish communities and government cultural authorities. You can read more here about the Commission's work and consult some of the surveys.

Romania: Restoration of Vandalized Bucharest Cemetery

Romania: Restoration of Vandalized Bucharest Cemetery

(ISJM) Dr. Aurel Vainer, President of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Romanian (FedRom) reports that the graves at the Jewish cemetery at 162 Giurgiului Road in Bucharest, that were vandalized in October 2008 are being restored, thank to assistance from the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad. The cemetery is the the largest Jewish cemetery in Bucharest. The 131 damaged monuments were vandalized on h Simchat Torah two and half years ago.

Restoration by the Federation of Jewish Communities of Romania (FEDROM), is being supported by the United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad. The U.S. Government agency is providing $46,000 of the cost estimated at $53,000. FEDROM will provide the rest of the funds. The restoration began in April and is expected to be completed in August.

In a public statement The Federation of Jewish Communities of Romania expressed "its sincere thanks, and deep appreciation to the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad – the donors, and particularly Member Larry Steinberg, who is providing $35,000 of the money –for such generous support. The Commission regularly carries out research and diplomatic advocacy on behalf of the protection and preservation of cultural monuments in more than twenty countries, and is especially active on behalf of sites of significance to ethnic and religious minorities, and the sites that have suffered due to historic and contemporary acts of intolerance. Funds to restoration projects come from private donors on an as needed basic. Commission members, appointed by the U.S. Congress and the President are encouraged to take an active role in fund raising for this work."

Vainer said “We, Jews of Romania, do believe that the project demonstrates rejection of intolerance, and is also a gesture of human solidarity, promotion of understanding, tolerance, and respect for Jewish heritage, as valuable part of the national and world heritage of all mankind.”

FedRom is responsible for over 1,000 Jewish cemeteries across the country. A small staff and limited funds makes the monitoring and maintenance of these far flung sites always difficult, and often impossible. Private funds are always needed for the work. Sadly, acts of violence and vandalism such as that of two years ago force a redirection of already limited resources.

Romania: More on Bucharest Holocaust Monument

Bucharest, Romania. Holocaust Memorial. Photos from www.holocaustmemorial.ro

Romania: More on Bucharest Holocaust Monument
by Samuel D. Gruber

(ISJM) Earlier this month I wrote about the pending dedication of the new Holocaust Memorial in Bucharest. Romania: Holocaust Monument to be Dedicated in Bucharest. The inauguration did take place, but the monument remains incomplete.

For more and continuing information about the monument and and to see pictures of the inauguration and the structure click here for the web site about the monument created by Marko Maximilain Katz, Director of MCA Romania -The Center for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism in Romania.

Regrettably, many of the inscriptions which will tell some of the facts about the Holocaust in Romania, and which are the real rationale for the memorial, were not ready for installation.

Bucharest, Romania. Inauguration of Holocaust Memorial, October 8, 2009.
Photos from www.holocaustmemorial.ro

What participants in the formal ceremony and observers (including the Romanian and international press) saw was an architectural framework and an ongoing worksite. We have all experienced time and budget overruns on construction projects. Still, in the case of a much anticipated monument such as the one in Bucharest, we can certainly wonder why the decision was taken to dedicate it before its completion. Was it simply that the government sponsors thought the deadline of the local Holocaust Remembrance day would force the contractors to hurry up? Or were there other reasons? Has rushing the dedication in any way diminished the impact of the monument?

K.K. Brattman, Managing Editor of the Holocaust Survivors and Remembrance Project: "Forget You Not" reacted strongly to the apparent inadequacies of the new monument, perceiving the one inscribed plaque in situ to be the only working that was to be included. This plaque merely indicates the sponsor and the artist, Romanian sculptor (who lives in Germany) Peter Jacobi.

Bucharest, Romania. Holocaust Memorial. Photos from www.holocaustmemorial.ro

In fact, several more historical and commemorative plaques are still to be completed and installed. The texts to these plaques – or something close to the final texts – were apparently included in the program of the inauguration.

I have been in contact with representatives of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the American Jewish Committee and the US Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, three organizations that actively pressured the Romanian government to create the Wiesel Commission, and then to follow through with many recommendations. They all shared the concerns of Mr. Brattman, but assured me that his concerns would be resolved when the monument was complete, with all the intended text.

One problem causing delay was the Hebrew inscription, which was being engraved in Germany. According to my sources, there were problems, but I don’t know whether these were in the text, the translation or the actual carving of the Hebrew letters. Other source reported that at the time of the dedication, where many things were rushed, there may have been some issues about having the proper translations (it is in Romanian, English and Hebrew) or questions about misspellings, which could require it to be remade.

I can attest from prior experience the difficulty in moving from idea to finished text on a Holocaust monuments. I have folders full of draft texts for monuments in Estonia, Croatia, Poland, Ukraine and elsewhere. Sometimes a single word or number - or the translation of the ta word - can hold up a project for a long long time.

In Bucharest (and in Washington) the general expectation is that all the problems about the final inscriptions should be resolved soon, and the final installation should take place within “a month or two.”

I encourage readers of this blog to report in from Bucharest with information and new pictures when they have occasion to visit the site.

I post here part of the moving speech by Liviu Beres, President of The Association of the Jews from Romania - Victims of the Holocaust, delivered at the unfinished monument on Romania's Holocaust Remembrance Day (the Text of the speech by the President of Romania has not yet been posted in English):

It was my destiny to have lived the best years of a person’s life during a dramatic turning point of history. It was a time when the commandment “Thou shall not kill!” was reversed. A time when the spiral of evil was expanding in Europe and all over the world, when anti-Semitism, hatred and discrimination were dominant and lawlessness became a state of the law.

Its initiators conceived the Holocaust in such a way that it was supposed to have no witnesses or history. As you know, the fate of the war turned against them and there remained many witnesses. Thus, the Holocaust has a history.

One of the witnesses is the person who wrote these lines. I belong to a fading generation: the survivors of the Holocaust.

We all know that, as persons, we move in space and change in time. We can return to the same location in space, but never in time. Only memory remains, with what you were able to keep in mind. For me, memories are often conversations with the dead or with myself, as I was at a time and changed to what I am now.

Sixty-eight years have passed since the freight trains, filled with the Jews who were deported from Bukovina, were running to the Dniester River. They “unloaded” the merchandise at the bank of the river for them to cross to “the other side”. At the same time, after the mass executions of the Jews, which took place in July-August 1941, when the troops entered Bassarabia and Northern Bukovina, the survivors were forced to walk, in convoys, to the same place. Whoever stayed behind was shot. I was part of those convoys when I hadn’t been 14 of age, yet.

Having been looted of their goods, of their rights and especially of their right to live, the Jews were going to an unknown place, which also got a new name: Transnistria.

The extermination policy was set into motion. Tens and hundreds of thousands of people were sentenced to death. Their only fault was that they were born and their parents were Jewish. It is true: no gas chambers were used in the Holocaust perpetrated by Antonescu’s government. People died from bullets, cold, hunger, insanitary conditions and disease (and they made “all the proper conditions” for it to appear). People also suffocated in tightly closed freight trains (the death trains from Iaşi). They were set on fire and blown up while crowded in warehouses. They were hanged (Odessa) and they died because the people around were bad.

In this bleak picture, where the scene is mainly occupied by the victims, perpetrators and indifferent spectators, there were good people as well. They were not many, among those who believed in light, despite the general dark. They risked their own life so as to save others.
The Holocaust is still here, in the memory of the few survivors. It is here with us in its whole horror. It was a cruel reality, a denial of any sense of morality, a denial of humanity. This memorial that we inaugurate now and here was made in honor of the victims of this cruel reality. As a tombstone for the ones who have no grave, the memorial will be a token for all those who want to know what happened. For, if we speak about learning from the Holocaust, it means we should not only tell the truth about the past, but also show how the same mechanisms act today in various societies and in people as well.

The fear of unknown finds its release in the fear and hatred for the “stranger”. Intolerance, fundamentalism, fanaticism, they all get their nutrients and new energy precisely from this “fear”. This is why it is necessary to spread the knowledge about the Holocaust.

By knowing our past, they will be able to act efficiently so that it does not become their future. It is possible that many will start thinking about what life and death is, and especially about what the world is. Even today, there are enough signs that warn about the always active potentiality of evil.

People forget too often that whatever starts with the hatred against the Jews continues with the loathing of all that is different. Mankind, who created tyrannical utopias and suffered from their disasters, can now better understand the consequences of one’s deeds.

This Memorial about people who existed at one time was erected for the people of today and of tomorrow. It is meant to remove indifference, the lack of knowledge about this matter and it should have an important contribution in this sense.

Let me tell you that, despite of all that happened, I still believe that MAN should be the purpose of man, in life.