So many Jewish cemetery/Jewish heritage volunteer clean-up operations take place each spring and summer that it’s hard to keep track.
Here are just a few that have caught our eye — some that have taken place, some that are under way, and some that are scheduled. We know we’ve missed a lot; please let us know, either in a message or as a comment to this article.
FRANCE
MARMOUTIER
Volunteers are invited to help clean up the cemetery every Tuesday from 9:30 a.m. til noon. The cemetery was founded in 1798 and includes some 600 graves. In April, a first clean-up and inventory took place. The local museum in Marmoutier Musée du Patrimoine et du Judaïsme Alsacien has a major section on Jewish life and culture.
The clean-up work at the cemetery is coordinated by the Jewish Consistoire of the Lower Rhine and the city of Marmoutier. For more information, contact [email protected]
FEGERSHEIM, FRANCE
May — Volunteers aided in the clean-up and restoration of the Jewish cemetery in Fegersheim, supervised by the Heritage Department of the Jewish Consistoire of the Lower Rhine. The cemetery includes around 800 graves, the earliest legible from the early 19th century. During the work, many headstones were straightened and others were cleaned.
UKRAINE
ROHATYN
August 27-31 — Clearing and cutting work at Rohatyn’s old Jewish cemetery takes place, in a cooperation operation between Rohatyn Jewish Heritage and The Matzevah Foundation.
POLAND
MATZEVAH FOUNDATION PROJECTS IN POLAND
In addition to the clean-up operation in Rohatyn, The Matzevah Foundation (TMF) has organized several Jewish cemetery clean-up operations in Poland.
TMF plans to work in the Jewish cemetery for a 5th year, partnering with the Auschwitz Jewish Center and MSDM and working with a local scout troop. The aims is to evaluate the state of the Jewish cemetery and set about to clean and clear a year’s worth of overgrowth. Read an article by TMF’s president Steven D. Reece about the involvement with Oświęcim
BIALYSTOK
August 9-17 — Some 40 or so volunteers will be working to clear and maintain the Bagnowka Jewish cemetery in Bialystok, Poland — including raising toppled stones. This is an ongoing project. Read the report on what was done in 2017.
TARNOW
July 27 — about 150 volunteers in a group from Israel took part in the ongoing clean-up and restoration of the cemetery. See the project’s Facebook page
CZECH REPUBLIC
HOLESOV
Last week of July — Eight volunteers, from Mexico, Turkey, France and Spain, took part in the annual volunteer clean up of the Jewish cemetery, ahead of the Holesov Jewish cultural festival.
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
SARAJEVO
August 11-25 — Organized by the German NGO Action Reconciliation Service for Peace. Participants will spend a large part of their time together doing maintenance work in the historic Jewish cemetery, including weeding, removing foliage, cleaning gravestones, and clearing paths. Through discussions with representatives of the community, the volunteers will learn more about the Jewish past and present in Sarajevo.
NETHERLANDS
DEVENTER
July 1-15 — Organized by the German NGO Action Reconciliation Service for Peace. Gardening, cleaning, and maintenance work in the Jewish cemetery.
LITHUANIA
SEIRIJAI
August 6-19 — This year’s annual International Summer Camp has the goal is of cleaning and documenting the Old Jewish cemetery in Seirijai. Between 10-14 volunteers will visit Lithuania from Germany and possibly other countries.
The international summer camp is a joint effort between Action Reconciliation Service for Peace and Maceva with financial support from the Lithuanian Jewish Community.