In her ground-breaking 1983 book “Time of Stones,” the first photo and text book about abandoned Jewish cemeteries published in Poland after WW2, Monika Krajewska quoted the poet Anna Kamienska as describing surviving Jewish cemeteries as a “Tribe of Stones:”
a people of stones, an obstinate tribe which is ever marching and ever shouting and calling voicelessly. Against the background of native grasses, trees, nettles and blackberries, exotic Hebrew letters are still talking about those who lived here and passed away. About righteous men, just and charitable, about God-fearing and loving women who toiled for others.
This wordless video of the vast Jewish cemetery in Cherivtsti, Ukraine in winter, produced by Ельдар Сарахман/Українська правда (Eldar Sarachman/Ukrainian Pravda) and posted on YouTube in March, makes use of drone imagery to powerfully evoke that image. (Note, however, that the accompanying text is incorrect — this is not the largest Jewish cemetery in Europe….)
3 comments on “Ukraine: stunning video of the vast Jewish cemetery in Chernivtsi powerfully evokes the image of surviving Jewish cemeteries as a “Tribe of Stones””
I believe I also have ancestors buried there and would be keen to learn more.
I think I have ancestors buried there. How do I find oit?
This is very moving, especially with the scene setting music. The sad reality is many of the surviving relatives died, although not by illness or old age. They were murdered because they were Jewish. There were no stone graves for them, they were shot and there lifeless bodies fell into pits like Baba Yar. That maybe why the stones stay alone and silent.✡️