Jewish Heritage Europe

Cemetery clean-ups — Round-up 2 — They rarely grab headlines, but Jewish cemetery clean-ups by volunteers and others go on in many countries — even despite the pandemic.

Cemetery desecrations make headlines, but all too often the many initiatives by volunteers and others to clean-up, restore, and document Jewish cemeteries get ignored. At the beginning of June, we published a round-up of some of the many Jewish cemetery … continue reading →

Ukraine: Major new resource for Jewish cemetery preservation in western Ukraine (with lots of material applicable to projects elsewhere, too)

We are pleased to introduce our readers to a major new (and comprehensive) web resource for Jewish cemetery restoration and commemoration. Called A Guide to Jewish Cemetery Preservation in Western Ukraine, it’s a dense and complex web site, launched this … continue reading →

Ukraine: Jewish community in Ivano Frankivsk launches fundraising campaign to repair serious water damage in its synagogue

The Jewish community in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine (formerly Stanisławów) has launched an emergency fund-raising campaign to repair the Tempel synagogue, which has suffered considerable water damage due to recent heavy rains. According to the web site jewishnews.com.ua, the community is seeking … continue reading →

Ukraine: alarm raised in Odessa that construction of a multistory apartment block could damage the former synagogue hosting the Migdal JCC

Jewish activists and local media in Odessa have raised an alarm about the potential impact of a six-story apartment block about to be built next door to the former Meat Butchers’ synagogue, which has housed the multi-purpose Migdal JCC since … continue reading →

An online exhibition of Memory Maps lets you “visit” the lost world of pre-WW2 towns, cities, and shtetls in eastern Europe the way they were remembered

A fascinating, and quite moving, online exhibit allows you to “visit” pre-war cities, towns, and shtetls in half a dozen countries through maps of them drawn from memory after the Shoah. Called “Atlas of Memory Maps,” the exhibit is mounted … continue reading →