Action Reconciliation Service for Peace, the German volunteer organization that, among other things, sends volunteers to clean up and maintain Jewish cemeteries, has announced its annual “summer camp” for people 40 and over to help clean up the sprawling Jewish cemetery in Chernivtsi (Czernowtiz) Ukraine and learn about the Jewish history — and present — of the city and surrounding region. It will take place Sept. 26-Oct. 8, and registration can be made on the web site.
We dive into the history of Jewish Bukovina: from the flowering of the 19th century to the tragedy of the 20th century – the deportation of almost the entire Jewish population – to the consequences of Sovietisation.
We visit the small Jewish community, discover the city and let ourselves get caught up in the Chernivtsi adventure. It will be hot, loud, stressful, not always comfortable, often strange, sometimes incomprehensible, but definitely unforgettable.
The Jewish cemetery of Chernivtsi is, with 50,000 graves, one of the largest preserved Jewish cemeteries in Europe, damaged in some areas and largely neglected. We will pull up weeds and undergrowth, clear overgrown paths between the graves and discover forgotten inscriptions on the gravestones.