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The most substantial part of the report includes mostly unknown and unpublished results and photographs from site visits by teams organized by the Jewish Community of Bulgaria to cemeteries in Burgas (Bourgas), Chirpan (Shirpan), Dupnitsa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.

Latvia: New Report on Vidzeme Region Burial Grounds

Riga, Latvia. Memorial at Rumbula, the site of the massacre of tens of thousands of Latvian Jews. Photos: Samuel Gruber.

Latvia: New Report on Vidzeme Region Burial Grounds

Lo Tishkach has published its latest report about Jewish cemeteries in Europe. This report presents information about the location and condition of the Jewish cemeteries and Holocaust-era mass graves in the northern Latvian region of Vidzeme, including Latvia's capital Riga. The report outlines the current situation and location of eleven Jewish cemeteries and 28 mass grave sites. Truth by told, because these sites are near Riga, they are among the better documented and protected sites in the country. Still, they also represent some of the most important places, including many sites of mass murder.

Phil Carmel, director of Lo Tishkach writes: "Set up in 2006, the Lo Tishkach Foundation European Jewish Cemeteries and Holocaust Mass Graves Initiative aims to collate all known data on Europe’s Jewish cemeteries and mass graves, and to incorporate this vast source of information in an online database so that it is readily and easily accessible to everyone. This database now stands at close to 11,000 individual records of cemeteries and mass graves and when complete may well contain details on close to 20,000 sites. Much of the core information for this project was gathered from multiple sources but our records cannot be truly accurate and up-to-date without details of the situation on the ground...During the summer months of 2010, thirty-nine burial grounds in Vidzeme were located, visited, surveyed and photographed, creating a unique record of the region’s Jewish heritage. Moreover, the surveys took place within the context of broad educational seminars for local youth and students in Latvia, building skills in leadership and volunteerism and raising awareness of Jewish history, heritage and identity."

The report builds on a decade of earlier documentation work of researcher Meyer Meler which resulted in the publication Jewish Cemeteries in Latvia published in 2006 [ISBN 9984-19-904-5]. That work was sponsored by the Latvian Council of Jewish Communities, the Museum "Jews in Latvia," and the United States Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad.

The new report finds four cemeteries need in proper demarcation and maintenance, two other sites to be partially demarcated and protected, with a final fives sites lacking any appropriate form of identification and demarcation. Regarding mass grave sites, only four of them lack identification, and three sites require memorial markers that make mention of the Jewish victims buried there. The remaining 21 sites are appropriately marked.

The report is the second to be published of Latvian regions by Lo Tishkach and follows extensive surveys, local interviews and additional research undertaken by local students over the summer of 2010. A report covering Latvia’s Zemgale region was published last year where eighth cemeteries and three mass grave sites were identified as needing proper demarcation and signage, as well as removal of excess vegetation.

For a full list of surveyed cemeteries and information on contributing to cemetery care and repair see the Foundation's website, which also reports monthly on news affecting Jewish cemeteries.

Riga, Latvia. New Jewish Cemetery. Photo: Samuel Gruber 2004.

Riga, Latvia. New Jewish Cemetery. Photo: Samuel Gruber 2004.

Arkady Suharenko, Chairman of the Latvian Council of Jewish Communities, wrote in the introduction to the report that "The majority of the mass graves remained unmarked for the entire Soviet period, and only in a few places, the local authorities erected memorial signs, although these did not specify that those murdered at these sites were Holocaust victims. Jewish life in Latvia revived from virtual non-existence in the late 1980’s, with the liberalisation of the political system of the USSR.

Among the goals of re-established Jewish communities, one of the main ones was the preservation of Jewish heritage and memory. Over the last twenty years, extensive research has been undertaken and currently, most of the mass graves are surveyed and marked; the cemeteries have been surveyed, and at some sites, restoration work has been conducted.

The participation of the Latvian Jewish community in the Lo Tishkach project was important for us both in evaluating the current state of Jewish burial places and in making an in-depth research of some of these sites, as well as in enabling the young generation of Latvian Jews to be in touch with their roots and the Jewish history of the region. We hope that this project will contribute to the development and advance of the Latvian Jewish community, providing a new dimension of understanding the importance of preserving our cultural and spiritual heritage."

Riga, Latvia. New Jewish Cemetery. Detail of contemporary gravestone. Photo: Samuel Gruber 2004.

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.

jewish-heritage-travel: Stones and Stone-carver images from a century ago

Stones and Stone-carver images from a century ago
(cross posted from http://jewish-heritage-travel.blogspot.com)

Ruth Ellen Gruber keeps posting interesting material on the history of Jewish gravestone carving.

See: jewish-heritage-travel: Stones and Stone-carver images from a century ago

In this post she shows images by Jewish artist Solomon Yudovin (1892-1954). a talented artist born near Vitebsk (where Marc Chagall was born). Yudovin was one of the artists who participated with An-Sky in the Jewish ethnographic expeditions through Volynia and Podolia (Ukraine). Yudovin photographed and copied the many of the Judaica objects and artworks discovered and collected and he later used many of these same themes in his won work - adapting by continuing Jewish traditional art motifs, themes and iconography.


One of my favorite Yudivin works is "Shabbat." Ruth should like this for all the candlestick imagery. I often show this image when I speak of the architecture and imagination of the shtetl.

Cemeteries: Who Reads Stones?

One the most important skills to have in the field of Jewish heritage research is the ability to read and understand inscriptions, especially on gravestones. It is not enough to know Hebrew, one must be familiar with different types of Hebrew usage in different places at different times, and know scores of abbreviations and recognize direct quotes, paraphrases of and allusions to scriptural passages. I can usually tell you what kind of stone it is, and whether it will stand or fall; and I'm familiar with most of the iconography one finds on gravestones and can usually tell you the name and sometimes death date of the deceased; but I can't decipher epitaphs and happily rely on those who can.

One of those people is Madaleine Isenberg, and apparently the demand for reading and tranlating Hebrew gravestones is so great that she has been making a career out of it. A recent "On Language" column in the Forward by Philologos considers her profession, and what it should be called. Isenberg calls herself a "stelaeglyphologist," - you can read why. Philologos prefers something a little more direct like "tombstone specialist." Ms. Isenberg is really what archaeologists have long called an "epigrapher."

I don't really care - to paraphrase my grandmother who used say "I don't care what you call me, as long as you call me in time for dinner," I say, "I don't care what the stone inscription reader is called, only that the translation is correct."

The column is a fun read, here it is.

Still, I'll add one note, and send my two cents to Philologos. I never call Jewish matzevot "tombstones." I prefer the Hebrew term, or "gravestone." Why? Well, in most Jewish burials and Jewish cemeteries tombs are avoided, and Jews are simply placed in the ground in simple grave - wrapped in tallit or shroud, or placed in a simple wood box. Tombs suggest stuctures - like those of pharoahs and kings - something most Jews have avoided at most times. Even those elaborate structures one often finds in 19th-century Jewish cemeteries are not really tombs. The bodies are not housed within. They are buried in the ground like all the others, and those "tombs" are really monuments - just fancier matzevot.

Houses of Life: The Jewish Cemeteries of Jamaica by Rachel Frankel

ISJM Vice-President and architect Rachel Frankel has written a short piece about the Jewish cemeteries of Jamaica for the website of the Martin Marty Center for the Advanced Study of Religion at the University of Chicago Divinity School. This derives from her paper at last January's conference on Jewish Diaspora in the Caribbean Conference, the proceedings of which will soon be published. Rachel will be leading a small team back to Jamaica this spring to continue cemetery documentation.

Houses of Life: The Jewish Cemeteries of Jamaica
by Rachel Frankel

At the outskirts of Port Royal lies Hunt’s Bay Jewish Cemetery, Jamaica’s oldest burial ground no longer in use today. The cemetery has recently been inventoried and mapped, and is now a Jamaica National Heritage Trust Site. Inventory work continues this month on the Orange Street Jewish Cemetery, Jamaica’s two hundred year old bet haim (“house of life”).

Jamaica’s several Jewish cemeteries, which ring this Caribbean island, are not wholly preserved, accessible, or undisturbed, but they contain over three continuous centuries of gravestone imagery, epitaphic language, genealogy, burial patterns, and cemetery site design. Thanks in part to the United Congregation of Israelites Shaare Shalom Synagogue of Jamaica and Caribbean Volunteer Expeditions, these New World necropolises are undergoing inventory, analysis, and preservation.

Read the entire article here.

Poland: New Director at Krakow's Galicia Jewish Museum

Krakow, Poland. Galicia Jewish Museum. All photos Samuel D. Gruber, 2008.

Poland: New Director at Krakow's Galicia Jewish Museum

The Galicia Jewish Museum founded in April 2004 in Krakow's Jewish quarter, Kazimierz, has appointed a new director, Kazimierz-born Jakub Nowakowski. Nowakowski has worked at the museum since 2005, most recently as its education direction. The museum is located in a former mill building (see photo above) on the edge of Kazimierz, the former suburb to Krakow's Old Town where Jews were permitted to live, and where a vibrant Jewish culture developed over a period of five centuries. The mission of the museum is "to challenge the stereotypes and misconceptions typically associated with the Jewish past in Poland and to educate both Poles and Jews about their own histories, whilst encouraging them to think about the future."

Nowakowski will replace Kate Craddy who has returned to England, to take up an appointment at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham. Craddy herself became director after the death in 2007 of the museum's founder, the British photographer Chris Schwarz. The museum's core exhibition is formed by Chris's photographs of Jewish heritage sites, taken mainly in the 1990s -- they also form the basis for the book Recovering Traces of Memory, with text by Jonathan Webber.
I congratulate Kate on all she has achieved at the museum, and wish Jakub all the best in his new position.

Nowakowski has an MA in History from the Department of Jewish Studies at the Jagiellonian University, as well as a postgraduate diploma in Management and Marketing from the Kraków School of Economics and Computer Science. He also holds a Tour Leader’s License from the City of Kraków.

In addition to its permanent photographic exhibition, the museum hosts traveling exhibitions about history and art, and also has one of Poland's best Jewish book stores and gift shops, and a hospitable cafe that provides a good rest and meeting place in Kazimierz. My family was pleased to donate one of my mother's (Shirley Moskowitz) monoprints from her Polish synagogue series to the museum in 2009, based on her visits to ruined synagogues in 1993. The wntire series had previously been exhibited at the museum.

The Galicia Jewish Museum employs over 20 full- and part-time staff, in Museum Operations; Education and Research; Projects and Publications; External Relations and Communications; and Finances and Administration. New Museum Director Nowakowski is supported by an active Board of Directors in Poland and a Board of Trustees in the UK, led by Chairman Prof. Jonathan Webber (UNESCO Chair of Jewish and Interfaith Studies, University of Birmingham).

Sniatyn, Ukraine. (top) Garbage piled in front of Jewish cemetery prior to cleaning and (bottom) cemetery after cleaning: Photo: courtesy Sofia Dyak (July, 2009)

Sniatyn, Ukraine. Local courtyard paved with Jewish matzevot. Photo: courtesy Sofia Dyak (2009)

Ukraine: Sniatyn Jewish Cemetery Cleaned and Subject of Local Exhibition
by Samuel D. Gruber

(ISJM) Last summer the Center for Urban History in East Central Europe in Lviv organized a student project called "Sniatyn- Archeology of Memory: Discovering and Reviving the Historical Heritage of Galician Town." The project was created within the framework of the program "Memoria", initiated by the foundation "Memory, Responsibility and Future" together with the Stefan Batory Foundation. The southern Galician town of Sniatyn was chosen for the project as an example of a border city. It is located near Bukovina (now Ukraine, Moldova and Romania), an area of rich multi-cultural history, where Ottoman, Austiran and Polish-Ukrainian cultures intermingled. According to researchers from the Center, “statistics from the first half of the 20th century suggest that close to two fifths of the population was formed by Ukrainians (Ruthenians), more than a third were Jews, and one fifth was made up of Poles. Other than these three main groups, there was also a small number of Germans, Armenians and Czechs.” Bukovina was also home to an especially fine tradition of Jewish cemetery art, which can still be seen at many extant sites, but is also remembered in photographs of now-lost carved matzevot (gravestones).

Thanks to project coordinator Sofia Dyak, I am posting photographs from the camp – which was organized as a two-week as a history and conservation seminar, illustrating some of the work done. (It I now snowing out my window, so I savor these summer photos – and hope that the organizers will sponsor similar events and opportunities in 2010).

Sniatyn, Ukraine. Jewish cemetery, cleaned matzevah, presumably - because of the pitcher - of a Levite.
Photo: courtesy of Sofia Dyak (2009)

According to Dyak, “the goal of the project was to return the attention of the inhabitants of Sniatyn to the multi-national and multi-religious heritage of their city with the help of the two week program of a volunteer camp made up of youth from Ukraine, Poland and Germany” Most of the 19 participants were students from the Institute of Architecture in Lviv. The group studied and worked on conservation projects on the adjacent Jewish and Christian cemeteries and learned more about the heritage of the region, but also the contemporary life of Sniatyn. The Christian cemetery is still in use, but since the destruction of the local Jewish community in the Holocaust, the Jewish cemetery was abandoned and neglected; many gravestones had been robbed, and those still in situ were endangered by spreading tree root and excess vegetation.

Students cleaned the cemeteries and also discovered Jewish gravestones paving a courtyard. During and after the Second World War Jewish gravestones were frequently used for paving (see for examples, the polychrome matzevot recently discovered in Radom, Poland. Other examples are known from Kazimierz Dolny, where they were retrieved and erected into a monument, and from Kremenets, Ukraine).

Sniatyn, Ukraine. Conservation of matzevah at Jewish cemetery. Photo: courtesy Sofia Dyak (2009)

The project also arranged for translation of about 80 inscriptions from the Jewish cemetery. This inscriptions, as well as study of symbolic imagery used on the stones was of great interest to the students, and was also used as tool to engage wider local interest in the history and care of the site.

Sniatyn, Ukraine. Exhibition on main square, culminating project. Photo: courtesy Sofia Dyak (2009)

The two-session culminated in the presentation of an outdoor exhibition on the main city square displaying the results of volunteers’ work to engage and inform the local inhabitants. Dr. Khrystyna Boyko (National University "Lviv Polytechnic") was the academic leader of the project.

For more information click here.

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.

Jewish Symbols: Candle Sticks (Romania)

My sister Ruth Ellen Gruber at the tomb of our great-great grandmother Chaya Dvoira Herer Halpern, in the Radauti Jewish cemetery. She died Feb. 22, 1905 at the age of 69.

Jewish Symbols: Candle Sticks Author (and my sister) Ruth Ellen Gruber has contributed a piece to Tablet Magazine about her recent work documenting and contemplating the representation of women on Jewish gravestones in northeastern Romania. While there, Ruth has also indulged in some family history, which she has reported on her travel blog Jewish-Heritage-Travel. You can read the Tablet piece, illustrated with a luscious gallery of photos, here: Sticks and Stones: Representations of women in Romania’s Jewish cemeteries The images available to symbolize Jewish women were more limited than those for men. Still, an examination of funerary art demonstrates an array of symbols, and many variations on the most common - candle sticks and birds. 

Ruth has been exploring the variety of Sabbath candle sticks on gravestones in Bucovina and other parts of Romania. Some of the depictions are fairly literal, but many have evolved into complex and highly decorate designs reflecting not just local folk art motifs but also more "studied" designs, especially reflective of trends in Central European Art Nouveau or Jugenstil art. This mix of influences from local traditions and major art centers can also be seen in the synagogue art of the period. 

Ruth first made this trip in the company of her little brother (me) back in 1977, when we accompanied Chief Rabbi Moses Rosen on his annual "Hanukah pilgrimage" around the Jewish communities of Romania. I had just come up from working on a dig in the Israeli desert, and confronted a bitter cold Romania winter. Here is a picture of me at my great-grandmother's gravestone in Radauti's Jewish cemetery, looking very "old world" in my improvised winter gear. I had previously been to Radauti (and much of Romania) on a trip with my parents in 1973. Though only 22 at the time, the 1978-79 trip was already my third extended trip to then Communist "Eastern Europe." As I continue to report on this blog, many things have changed ...but some things, especially when it comes to Jewish cemeteries, have not.

Sam Gruber at the grave of his great-grandmother Ettel Gruber in the Jewish cemetery in Radauti, Romania (photo Ruth E. Gruber, 1978). A rare photo of Ettel as a younger woman is below.

Publication: "Monumental" Book about Suriname Jewish Cemeteries

Publication: "Monumental" Book about Suriname Jewish Cemeteries

(ISJM) Architect Rachel Frankel and historian Aviva Ben-Ur have produced a massive collection of funerary inscriptions documented, transcribed and translated from Jewish cemeteries in Suriname. Remnant Stones: The Jewish Cemeteries of Suriname (Hebrew Union College Press, ISBN-13: 9780878202249) , is one of a projected two volumes and is the result of almost a decade of work in Jodensavanne, or Jews’ Savannah, the 17th and 18th-century Jewish plantation settlement in the South American jungle, and in Paramaribo, Suriname's capital. The 679-page book weighs almost as much as some of the documented matzevot!

Jodensavanne is located on the Suriname River, about thirty kilometers from Paramaribo (also the site of synagogues and Jewish cemeteries). The settlement was surrounded by Sephardi Jewish owned sugar plantations. The International Survey of Jewish Monuments has been one of several sponsors of this project since its inception. Rachel Frankel presently serves as vice-president of ISJM. I congratulate Rachel and Aviva on the publication of this important documentary work, and I look forward to the publication of the explanatory and interpretive volume soon.

Remnant Stones is really the second volume of two, though it has been published first. It examines three Sephardi cemeteries, with graves that date from 1666 to 1904 and one Ashkenazi cemetery in Paramaribo, whose monuments date from the 1680s to the late nineteenth century. By the early 19th-century, the Dutch colony's Jewish community existed in an often-acrimoneous split, with most Sephardim living in Jodensavanne and most Ashkenazi Jews livign in Paramaribo. The split existed among the living, and also the dead. Sephardi and Ashkenazi maintaied separate cemeteries, all of which are documented in Remnant Stones. The 1,700 epitaphs were written and carved in Portuguese, Hebrew, Spanish, Dutch, Aramaic, and French. They are included in their original language and in translation. Many photos accompany the catalogue text. Remnant Stones includes a fold-out scaled plan of each of the cemeteries showing stone orientation and locations.

An important part of the research projects was the documentation of the former Beraha VeSalom (Blessing and Peace) Synagogue, dedicated in 1685 but now a ruin, and also an analysis of the town plan, both topics of which are discussed in detail in the still-to-published volume, which also should put the extensive collection of funerary epitaphs compiled in the volume in a broader context. --- SDG

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: Big New Book on Fate of Polish Jewish Sites (1944-1966)

Publication: Big New Book on fate of Polish Jewish Sites (1944-1966)

The Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland has announced the publication of new resource on Jewish monuments. The book (which I have not seen), apparently contains massive amounts of important documentary information about the post-Holocaust fate of Jewish sites.

It is with joy that we inform that thanks to the support of the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland a book by Professor Kazimierz Urban was published by Nomos Publishing House in Cracow under the title ""Cmentarze żydowskie, synagogi i domy modlitwy w Polsce w latach 1944-1966 (Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues and Houses of Prayer in Poland, 1944-1966)".

The book, composed of original Polish documents concerning mostly the fate of the property of the prewar Jewish communities, is a large, 800 pages wide publication. It is a perfect source of information for the scientific research, and a good lecture for all those interested in the history of Polish Jews after the World War II.

To order the book please contact the Foundation at fodz@fodz.pl.

Jamaica: Hunt’s Bay and Orange Street Cemeteries – March 2009

CVE Volunteers at work documenting Jamaica cemeteries, March 2009

Jamaica: Hunt’s Bay and Orange Street Cemeteries – March 2009
By Shai Fierst and Sam Petuchowski

For several years ISJM has been co-sponsor of a project to document the cemeteries of Jamaica. Last month a small team of volunteers spent time on the island revisiting the Jewish cemetery at Hunt's Bay, and beginning work documenting the cemetery on Orange Street in Kingston. Team members Shai Fierst and Sam Petuchowski contributed the following report for the newsletter of CVE (Caribbean Volunteer Expeditions), one of ISJM's partners in the project.

Jamaica’s Jewish community is one of the oldest and storied communities in the Americas with impressive contributions to art, literature, politics, and more in the non-Jewish and Jewish spheres in and outside of Jamaica. A request by Ainsley Henriques’ of the Jamaican Jewish community for inventorying of Jamaica’s Jewish cemeteries was a catalyst for a partnership between CVE (Caribbean Volunteer Expeditions) and the community that began a decade ago and continued in March 2009 with Rachel Frankel leading a team to continue inventorying the Hunt’s Bay Cemetery and begin inventorying the Jewish Cemetery on Orange Street in Kingston. The International Survey of Jewish Monuments (ISJM) is a co-sponsor of this project. The goal of the work beyond collecting data is to post the information on the World Wide Web thereby making Jamaica’s historic and difficult to access sites available to a worldwide public.

The Hunt’s Bay Cemetery is Jamaica’s oldest cemetery and was the burying ground for the Jews of Port Royal who lived across the harbor where the high water table of the peninsula prevented burial. Hunt’s Bay Cemetery is located to the west of Kingston having been established before the founding of Kingston. Hunt’s Bay’s earliest grave stone dates to 1672 and its latest dates to the mid 19th century. 360 grave markers remain at Hunt’s Bay. Many markers have been destroyed or looted for construction over time.

The Jewish Cemetery on Orange Street, located near the beautiful and century-old Shaarei Shalom Synagogue, contains stones from the early 19th century and is still in use. The cemetery is located in the newer, northern end of Kingston. Previous to the Orange Street Cemetery, Kingston's Sephardim buried their dead in the no longer extant Old Kingston Jewish Cemetery in the older, southern part of Kingston's downtown. 18th century grave stones from the Old Kingston Jewish Cemetery were transposed to the Orange Street cemetery when the former was closed likely due to new sanitation laws of the growing city. The grave stones are found along the north and east cemetery walls, often partially covered under earth excavated by burials.

The Hunt's Bay Cemetery contains bluestone, limestone and marble grave markers with epitaphs largely in Portuguese and Hebrew. The horizontal markers rest upon brick bases varying in height. The older section of the Orange Street Cemetery contains horizontal grave markers mostly of marble elevated almost three feet above ground on red brick bases, with epitaphs written, for the vast majority, in English, with less and less Portuguese and Hebrew.

The inventory work discovered that many of the grave markers in the Orange Street Cemetery are not in their authentic locations likely due to destruction by looters and then further destruction by well-intentioned restoration. Natural disasters, such as an earthquake in 1907, likely also impacted the cemetery. The Jewish community employs persons to care for the grounds, but there is still an incredible amount of work that needs to be done in order to maintain the site. There is also much work that needs to be continued with regard to inventorying, as the March 2009 work achieved documentation of only a small portion of the cemetery.

Building relationships with Jamaican Jews such as Michael Cohen and Michael Nunes added to the experience of the CVE volunteers and hopefully our Jamaican Jewish counterparts will continue to work with CVE groups in the future. The work week also included a visit from the Archaeological Society of Jamaica along with Professor James Robertson from the University of The West Indies.