jewish cemeteries, synagogues, and mass grave sites in ukraine

cooperation with the Kalusher Society in Israel. The group published the Yizkor book (historical
and personal writing compiled to memorialize the destroyed Jewish community) and apparently
paid for a fence and a monument at the site of the massacre of Jews by the Nazi Einsatzgruppe.
Now there is occasional clearing or cleaning of the sites by local authorities.
At the cemetery of Alchevsk (Luhanska oblast) there has been re-erection, patching and cleaning
of stones, clearing of vegetation, and fixing of the wall and gate. Local and regional authorities,
and Jewish individuals within the country did the work. Restoration was completed by 1994.
Now, there is occasional clearing or cleaning by individuals.
IV.3 (c)
Cemetery Preservation Challenges
The majority of Jewish cemeteries and mass burial sites in Ukraine remain abandoned and
neglected, without clearly marked boundaries or descriptive or commemorative markers. The
range of physical problems encountered in cemeteries includes: abandonment and the rapid
encroachment of vegetation or encroachment by other development; the erosion of stone surfaces
with their decorations and inscriptions due to natural weathering; and increasing air pollution.
Cemeteries are subject to natural deterioration, theft, vandalism, and land development. Many
have already been encroached upon for industrial, agricultural, residential or recreational use.
Various types of land development -- including construction of roads -- continue to threaten
abandoned or little-used cemeteries. No systematized or centralized program for the
conservation of cemeteries exists. Few cemeteries are presently listed on any registers of historic
monuments. Those sites with a wealth of artistically and historically significant gravestones are
not receiving regular and professional protection and care. Even positive intervention at sites
often neglects basic conservation procedures regarding methods and materials employed in the
cleaning, repair, and re-erection of stones. 48
Intervention to preserve Ukrainian cemeteries requires work on several levels. Often research is
required to fully ascertain the legal boundaries of the cemetery, since walls or fences do not
delimit most of the older cemeteries. Basic work requires the clearing of saplings, bushes, vines,
weeds, and other vegetation that has grown up. More demanding and expensive work can
require the repair or erection of walls or fences, the rebuilding of pre-burial houses, and the reerection
of gravestones. In many cases where work has been undertaken at Ukrainian Jewish
cemeteries, there are few or no stones visible. In these cases, repairs can include fencing the site,
retrieving lost and stolen stones from other places, and the erection of a monument.
While there are some who interpret very strictly certain Talmudic injunctions regarding the
vegetation on cemeteries, most often a more liberal solution is adopted in order to safeguard a
cemetery’s protection and preservation. According to the Talmud, all plants of the cemetery are
not pruned, grass is not mowed, and only the paths are paved and maintained. The aim is that the
48
There is a growing literature about stone conservation in general and cemetery conservation and restoration in
particular. For stone restoration, the International Symposium on the Conservation of Stone is a valuable resource
(proceeding of conferences are published regularly). For cemeteries as a whole, the specialized publications of the
Association for Gravestone Studies are extremely useful. These are summarized in Lynette Strangstad, A Graveyard
Preservation Primer (Nashville, TN: Altamira Press 1988). See also ibid., Preservation of Historic Burial Grounds
(Washington, DC: National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1995).
48