The NGO working to clean and restore the vast Kozma utca Jewish cemetery in Budapest reports that 2024 was a “banner year” and its biggest year of progress to date.
By the end of December, the Friends of the Budapest Jewish Cemetery says in an annual report, it will have completed clearing vegetation this year from almost 80,000 sq. meters (equivalent to 20 acres) containing 25,891 graves across nine sections of the cemetery.
“Without seeing it in person, it might be hard to imagine the sheer scale of what densely forested 20 acres and almost 26,000 graves looks like,” it said.
It provided aerial photos to show the difference, from mid-2018, before it started work, and in March 2024:
All told to date, it said, it had managed to clear more than 260,000 sq. meters (64 acres) across 33 sections of the cemetery containing 84,507 graves. This amounts to “54% of our target in area and 63% in number of sections.”
Never has our work felt more poignant. In a world of baseless hate and antisemitism, this cemetery, one of the two largest in the world, stands in powerful but quiet testimony to both the enormous contribution of Budapest’s Jews to their country as well as to the the loss that not only they but the entire country suffered when they persecuted them. Our mission is to ensure that even this reminder is not swallowed up by neglect. We hope governments and societies of our “developed” countries come to truly understand this lesson.
The NGO summarized the 2024 work under the following breakdown:
- Renovated 9 sections that sum to 79,569 sq meters containing 25,891 graves. Includes 2 very large (38, 39), 3 medium (14, 20, 21) and 4 small sections (17A, 17C, 17D, C) Thank you to the Sved family (Toronto) for sponsoring Section C, the Munk family (London) for sponsoring 14, the Strasser family (Sydney) for 17C and to the Graf family (Sydney) for 17D
- Full restoration of the badly dilapidated Greiner family mausoleum — built in 1908 and designed by the noted architect Bela Lajta. The tree growing out of it took three days to remove….
- Maintenance now encompasses a very large area; we have made some great strides but still experimenting with the best model
- Restoring many graves for descendants including some beautiful ones.
Read the full year-end report here, with lots more pictures
1 comment on “Hungary: NGO says 2024 was its biggest year of progress to date in cleaning and restoring the vast Kozma utca Jewish cemetery in Budapest.”
Very moving.
Where can I view all restorative works done so far in areas occupied at a time or other by Romanians or Hungarians?
Thank you.