jewish cemeteries, synagogues, and mass grave sites in ukraine

VI. ISSUES FOR CONSIDERATION 72
As this report makes clear, enormous effort would be required to adequately care for and protect
for Jewish sites throughout Ukraine.
At present, few Jewish sites are listed on the National Registry of Protected Historic Places. This
deficiency could be remedied with the inclusion of sites of artistic and architectural merit.
Cemeteries could also be included. In any case, the documentation of cemeteries in this report
should also be maintained in Ukraine’s official historic preservation files. This will be the most
complete record on the current status and location of Jewish cemeteries; The public value of
theses sites as cultural, historic, and educational resources is of special significance in
maintaining the history of destroyed Jewish communities.
The information from this survey could be periodically updated. It would also be helpful if some
entity undertook a more intensive effort to photograph and map cemeteries and transcribe
gravestone inscriptions, and prepare photographed and measured drawings of synagogues. This
level of documentation has been begun in many places by the Petersburg Jewish University and
the Center for Jewish Art of Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Another helpful development would be for the Jewish community to establish full-time
professional staff dedicated to this issue. This has proven effective in other countries facing
similar challenges. If this is not possible, the community could try to establish a clearing house
and center of information and expertise to coordinate and prioritize projects and issues related to
Jewish sites.
The existence of the model of the JPCU and the data provided in this report can provide the basis
for such an office. It could work with national and international governmental bodies, as well as
with the scores of international Jewish survivors and genealogical and landsman shaft groups
throughout the world. The relative ease of communication and the exchange of information
through the Internet can make a small local office in Kyiv, Lviv, or Dnipropetrovsk into an
international hub of activity. Assistance for project implementation could be sought from
international donors.
Priorities concerning cemetery protection and conservation can be grouped into the following
categories:
‣ Boundary Markers and Signage: It would help if Jewish cemeteries were clearly
marked. Boundaries could be delineated even if a fence or wall does not exist around the site.
Information signs could be posted explaining the nature of the site, with some information on the
history of the community and its destruction. Ideally, these signs would be in permanent
materials, with information in Ukrainian and English, and either Hebrew or Yiddish.
72 Phyllis Myers contributed to this section.
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