The historic Jewish cemetery in Ioannina, Greece suffered serious damage in a severe storm that struck Saturday, Jan. 3.
According to local media reports and representatives of the local Jewish community, gale force winds uprooted a number of trees, including a tall cypress tree that toppled onto the tahara house and also damaged the surrounding pavement. A number of graves, particularly in the oldest section of the cemetery, were also reported to be damaged.
We publish here photos sent by Moses Eliasaf, President of the Jewish Community in Ioannina, to Marcia Haddad Ikonomopoulos, museum director at the Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue in New York, which is spearheading a drive to raise money for repairs (estimated, Marcia says, at more than $50,000). Kehila Kedosha Janina had already been working to fund-raise to restore the cemetery, which in 2012 was designated an historical landmark. The cemetery has suffered several vandal attacks over the years.
Marcia tells JHE that people living in the United States can donate by sending checks to Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue, 280 Broome Street, New York, NY 10002.
She adds: “The Association of Friends of Greek Jewry will absorb the costs of bank transfers so that every dollar raised will go directly to the Jewish Community of Ioannina.”
For those outside the United States who wish to make bank transfers directly to the Jewish Community of Ioannina, contact her at [email protected] and she will send you the bank information for the Jewish community in Ioannina.
The oldest known graves in the cemetery date back to the 15th century.
Marcia provided the following history of the cemetery, which was published on Samuel Gruber’s blog:
The Jewish Cemetery of Ioannina is situated in what was once an eight-acre field bought by the community from the Ottoman Turkish Despot, Ali Pasha, in the early 19th century. The history of a burial site for the Jews of the city has been one fraught with ceaseless obstacles. The original cemetery was outside the walls of the fortified city (the Kastro), near the market place. Nothing remains of that cemetery but it is believed that tombstones, many going back to the 13th century, were transferred to subsequent cemeteries. In 1892 a later Jewish cemetery was desecrated by the Ottoman authorities and the main site of Jewish burial was transferred to the outskirts of the city, in an area called Kalkan. This later cemetery was leveled in 1922 to build homes for Greek refugees from Asia Minor. It was then that the tombstones were transferred to the field known as Gem, the site of the present Jewish cemetery. At the entrance to he new cemetery is the inscription (translated from the Hebrew):
“The Almighty Who dwells among us has allowed us to erect a wall around this field so they (the deceased) may repose in the land of the living; for the consecration of the Society of the Righteous (Hevra Hesed) and with the notables of the day.“
Click here to see more about the cemetery in another post on Sam’s blog.