We are pleased to introduce our readers to a major new (and comprehensive) web resource for Jewish cemetery restoration and commemoration.
Called A Guide to Jewish Cemetery Preservation in Western Ukraine, it’s a dense and complex web site, launched this week, that presents results of a research project led by Marla Raucher Osborn for Rohatyn Jewish Heritage (RJH) and supported by the US Fulbright Scholar Program during the 2019-2020 academic year.
Its aim is to provide:
information and guidance to assist leaders, activists, and volunteers in the care and rehabilitation of Jewish cemeteries in western Ukraine. Included […] are “best practices” (processes, methods, tools), plus a collection of resources (texts, websites, videos) relevant to the work, selected case studies of local and other cemetery projects, and links to independent organizations working to document Jewish cemeteries in the region.
Material on the web site has been drawn from a variety of international and Ukrainian sources in a number of different disciplines. The web site and most of the listed references are in English but, importantly, the site also has a Ukrainian version.
And though the Guide as a whole is aimed to address the specific needs of Jewish cemeteries in western Ukraine, its compendium of resources, case studies, practical best practices, and experience-based suggestions should be useful to individuals, organizations, and projects elsewhere.
The Guide is divided into several main sections that focus on aspects of both the theory and hands-on practice of Jewish cemetery preservation, restoration, survey, and commemoration, including mapping, cleaning headstones, and even which tools to use to raise matzevot that have been toppled or lie flat.
There is a list of all known Jewish cemeteries in western Ukraine, as well as a list of cemetery restoration, clean-up, or commemorative projects in western Ukraine that are ongoing or have already taken place. One section includes case studies of targeted projects in several cemeteries.
Each section has subsections on specific relevant topics, and there are extensive lists of print and online resources, including videos as well as books and articles.
Likewise, the web site overall is still in development, with more material to come — a hands-on descriptive guide for several categories (such as project concept, funding possibilities, and signage) has not yet been posted, but detailed reference lists for these categories do already exist.