Vandals toppled or otherwise damaged several dozen headstones in the vast St. Petersburg Jewish cemetery earlier this week. The Jewish community has documented the damage and posted on its web site pictures of each affected gravestone along with a map showing where the damaged stones are located.
The vandal attack took place between the evening of July 26 and the morning of July 28, the web site said. Police are investigating the matter.
The map showed damaged stones were found in 10 sections of the cemetery, arranged along two of the cemeteries allees. The sites of damaged gravestones are marked with the red dots.
The Jewish community asks people with relatives buried in the cemetery to check the photo documentation — and also asks visitors to the cemetery to inform the community if they find any other toppled stones.
It asks that people contact the Jewish community if they have questions about how to restore a grave at: [email protected]
The cemetery was opened in 1875 as part of the city’s Preobrazhenskoe (Transfiguration) Cemetery and has at least 80,000 burials.
Click here to see the photo documentation of the damaged gravestones