We posted last week a round-up of some of the many volunteer Jewish cemetery clean-up initiatives taking place this spring and summer in various countries. Here are some more!
If you don’t see yours — let us know!
BELARUS
Mir — July 14-21. Organized by Hillel Minsk as part of its annual MEGA (Memory. Education. Generation. Action.) program, students from a number of countries spent three days working on clearing and restoring the Jewish cemetery. They uncovered more than 400 headstones which had lain below the surface, restored the fence and the entrance to the cemetery, and created a map. All the results will be posted online once processed.
Last year the MEGA program worked at Zembin cemetery (Borisov region), before at Shatsk cemetery (Minsk region), also in Grodno region.
POLAND
Bakałarzewo — June 14. Local schoolchildren led by teacher Wioletta Łapińska held a clean-up action at the Jewish cemetery.
Grybów — March 22. Volunteers cut back trees and cleared other vegetation.
Kanczuga-Siedleczka — spring. Spearheaded by Polish-American Patryk Czerwony, the Jewish cemetery (which had already been cleaned and restored in 2008) was cleaned up with the aid of a crowd-funding campaign.
Łódz — July 21, August 11. Clean-up operations in the vast Jewish cemetery, one of the largest in Europe, organized by the “Guardians of Remembrance” NGO.
View the video report of the July 21 action (subtitles in English):
Sędziszów Małopolski – July. The overgrown Jewish cemetery was cleaned up by the NGO AntySchematy 2 , working in cooperation with FODZ, and a Holocaust commemoration was held July 24. AntySchematy 2 is also developing a Jewish heritage educational trail. The keys to the cemetery were handed over to the city hall, which will provide access to people who want to visit the site.
Szczebrzeszyn — August 2. Volunteer clean-up of the old Jewish cemetery, which dates back to the 16th century.
11 comments on “Round-up #2: More cemetery clean-up initiatives this spring and summer”
I would like to supplement the documentation of the Jewish cemetery clean-ups and documentation.
This summer 65 participants of the international camp Jewish ArtEck-2019 in Germany, coming from Israel, Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, the USA, Austria and Germany cleaned up the old New Cemetery in Eberswalde (60 km far from Berlin).
This old New Jewish was established in 1911. There are 53 gravestones in the cemetery. After 1945, the cemetery was repeatedly desecrated and misused to dump garbage. Here is an article from a local German newspaper concerning the cleansing of the cemetery by Jewish kids and teens from the Jewish ArtEck.
If you can supplement the documentation I would send you photos and more information.
I’d like to add the documentation of the “Jewish cemetery clean-ups and documentation” and with the experience of the international Camp “Jewish ArtEck-2019” in Germany.
This year 65 Jewish 10-17 years-old participants from Germany, Israel, Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Austria and the USA cleaned up the old New Cemetery of Eberswalde (60 km from Berlin).
This Jewish cemetery was created in 1911. There are 53 gravestones in the cemetery. After 1945 the cemetery was repeatedly misused to dump garbage.
If you want to supplement your documentation I would be glad to sent you photos and more information.
Here is an article from the local German newspaper: https://www.moz.de/artikel-ansicht/dg/0/1/1747439/
Thank you!
Thank you for your work. We visited the cemetery in Mir a few weeks ago. Although I do not have family from there, it was a meaningful experience. The following week I visited the cemetery in Anykasciai, Lithuania, which I most likely do have ancestors buried. High on a hill overlooking the city, it is one of those sites that would benefit from some TLC.
We have done a clean up of the Kurenets, Belarus Jewish cemetery twice in the last two years. Cleared the weeds and saplings, photographed all the stones (sometimes with shaving cream to highlight the letters), picked up the trash and created a map. We someone to translate the stones, and others to fix one small portion of a fallen wall. It is in the Vileyka district, between Minsk and Vilnius.
We need someone to translate the stones and need funds to fix the small portion of broken wall. Thank you!
Mazel tov for the documentation an clean-up work — but please be aware that it is not advisable to use shaving cream on gravestones! See the resources on our Cemeteries section — for example this — https://www.gravestonestudies.org/knowledge-center/faq-s#faqnoanchor
How beautiful that is about time people remembered were my parents are buried is next to a Jewish cemetery I went round it a few weeks ago it looks quite well looked after I live in England we don’t have much off a Jewish community it’s mostly in London God bless all the people who are doing the clean up
The cemetery in Lebedevo Belarus where my great grandfather lived is extremely overgrown and neglected. It would be wonderful if you could add it to your list to be cleared and restored.
A local school teacher is the only person who tries to keep the cemetery from dissappearing completely. I visited it this year and was very upset by its condition. Most of the gravestones have either been lost or have fallen and are broken and the ground is very uneven or covered by very large bushes or trees. I do hope you can restore it before it is too late.
I will be in Prague between August 8 and August 15. I was wondering if there was any way I can find out if I can help out at a cemetery there while I am there. I am a member of a chevra Kadisha in Alexandria, va.
Any suggestions as to whom to contact?
Thanks!
Esther Miller
Contact the Prague Jewish community, or the Federation of Jewish communities. (Or other local Jewish communities). You can find communal contacts on the “communal contacts” page of the Czech country section of this web site. I believe there is ongoing work in the Jewish cemetery in Litomsyl. Maybe elsewhere.