Jewish Heritage Europe

ESJF gets €800,000 EU Grant to Map, Survey 1,500 Jewish Cemeteries

The European Union has awarded a grant of €800,000 to the European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative (ESJF) to map and survey at least 1,500 Jewish cemeteries in five countries in eastern, east-central, and south-eastern Europe: Greece, Moldova, Slovakia, Lithuania and Ukraine. … continue reading →

Ukraine: ESJF Survey on Jewish cemeteries in Volhyn available online

  The ESJF European Jewish Cemeteries initiative has published online its detailed survey of Jewish cemeteries in the modern Volhyn region of Ukraine, carried out in October 2018. During the preparation of the ESJF expedition, 58 Jewish cemeteries were discovered … continue reading →

On Jewish gravestones and the stone-carvers who made them: a stone-carver’s thoughts on tradition and symbolism

In Ashkenazi Eastern Europe the carved epitaphs and wealth of carved decoration on Jewish gravestones can be richly sculptural as well as symbolic. Unfortunately, little is known about the stone-carvers who created these memorials. We crosspost here an (updated) article … continue reading →

Belarus: finding, recovering, fencing a devastated Jewish cemetery

  The devastated Jewish cemetery in  the small town of Lohishyn, Belarus has a new fence, largely thanks to a descendant from the town, working together with local people including a school teacher and the mayor. Mimi Kim Klausner, an … continue reading →

Jewish cemeteries in Ukraine: preliminary report on field research 2016-2018

  A report — Jewish cemeteries of Ukraine: preliminary results of studies for 2016–2018 —  summarizes the size and status of dozens of Jewish cemeteries and mass graves in Ukraine. The report, published on by the umbrella Vaad Association of … continue reading →