Jewish Cemeteries

Andrea Morpurgo, Il cimitero ebraico in Italia: Storia e architettura di uno spazio identitario, Macerata: Quodlibet, 2012, 215 pp.

Andrea Morpurgo, architetto e storico dell'architettura, passa in rassegna dal Medioevo al ventesimo secolo la storia del cimitero ebraico in Italia. Il tema principale del libro, come indica il sottotitolo, è l'importanza del cimitero come spazio per l'espressione dell'identità ebraica. La lettura non richiede conoscenze pregresse e, inoltre, vengono definiti concetti di base quali cosa sia una sinagoga o un ghetto. Il libro riassume, a secondo degli argomenti trattati nei diversi capitoli, la storia degli ebrei d'Italia: vengono descritte le condizioni sociali e politiche della popolazione ebraica, il rapporto tra ebrei e cristiani e lo sviluppo e consolidamento dell'identità ebraica. La ricerca è basata in gran parte sulla letteratura e la stampa ebraica italiana del periodo, ma è evidente che l'autore ha anche condotto un approfondito lavoro di ricerca, come dimostrano le note che rimandano a documenti conservati in ventisette archivi.
Il centro della riflessione riguarda il periodo che va dalla fondazione dello stato italiano moderno, nel 1861, fino al ventennio fascista. Dopo un breve capitolo introduttivo sul periodo pre-moderno, si arriva all'era moderna, a partire dall'invasione dell'Italia da parte dell'esercito napoleonico, per poi approfondire la rilevante questione della cristallizzazione dell'identità ebraica moderna. Il terzo capitolo è dedicato alle moderne sinagoghe (Torino, Firenze, Milano, Roma e Trieste), che furono per lo più realizzate in stile orientale. Morpurgo passa in rassegna la storia della progettazione e della costruzione degli edifici, senza trascurare le sinagoghe meno conosciute che furono realizzate nella seconda metà del diciannovesimo secolo. Vengono inoltre confrontate le nuove sinagoghe realizzate in Italia con quelle di altri paesi europei, come ad esempio Germania e Francia.
Tra le rivoluzioni che caratterizzarono il diciannovesimo secolo vi fu anche quella relativa all'atteggiamento verso l'istituzione cimitero. Molti paesi sostituirono le aree di sepoltura, fino ad allora situate vicino alle chiese cittadine, con nuovi grandi cimiteri pubblici costruiti fuori dalle mura della città. Dal quarto al settimo capitolo il libro descrive quindi le storie dei cimiteri ebraici in Italia: le nuove aree di sepoltura di antiche comunità ebraiche (Trieste, Firenze, Livorno), i cimiteri ebraici situati all'interno dei cimiteri comunali (Torino, Genova, Roma, Modena), i cimiteri edificati da parte di nuove o risorte comunità (Bologna, Milano, Napoli) ed infine i cambiamenti che subirono i cimiteri di antiche comunità (Ancona, Venezia, Ferrara). Questi capitoli sono accompagnati da numerose illustrazioni e disegni, che chiariscono in particolar modo le questioni di carattere architettonico dei vari progetti.
I cambiamenti introdotti dagli ebrei d'Italia nelle modalità di sepoltura a partire dal diciannovesimo secolo sono il tema dell'ottavo capitolo. In particolare viene analizzata l'importanza di tali mutazioni riguardo alla formazione della moderna identità ebraica, in costante equilibrio tra la preservazione della tradizione e l'adattamento allo spirito dei nuovi tempi di integrazione e talvolta di totale assimilazione nella società. Il capitolo si conclude occupandosi dei cambiamenti nel disegno delle lapidi, delle iscrizioni e degli apparati decorativi.
Il nono capitolo tratta delle ostilità mostrata dai cristiani verso i funerali degli ebrei, che spesso si tramutavano in vere e proprie manifestazioni di violenza. Morpurgo sottolinea come i cimiteri ebraici e i riti di sepoltura furono “disturbati“ non solo nel periodo pre-moderno, ma anche nel periodo successivo all'unificazione dello stato italiano e naturalmente durante il periodo fascista.
Il libro termina con un catalogo dei cimiteri ebraici presenti sul territorio italiano, divisi per regione e organizzati in ordine alfabetico. Le voci includono dettagli sulla posizione del cimitero e un riassunto della sua storia. Una ricca serie di illustrazioni, mappe e un lessico di termini ebraici concludono il libro.
Il libro di Morpurgo pur non essendo uno studio completo e definitivo rappresenta tuttavia il primo tentativo di riassumere l'argomento, e raggiunge questo obiettivo attraverso un linguaggio chiaro, semplice ed una metodologia di ricerca encomiabile.

Prof. David Malkiel
Full Professor, Department of Jewish History, Bar Ilan University (Israel)

The Jewish Community of Ferrara is well observed through the historical reconstruction of its cemeteries. In fact, there were six Jewish cemeteries in the city, only two of which remain today. Through the study of the minutes recorded by the Jews in their Pinqasim, or registers, light is shed on the little-known aspects of these Jewish cemeteries. This study focuses on the great Jewish cemetery seated in Via delle Vigne in Ferrara, on its history, on its structure and on the members of the Community who took care of its custody and maintenance. This piece of research is based on the analysis of the Pinqas of the Italian School, enclosed in the manuscript IT/Lu-1a, housed at the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People in Jerusalem, spanning the years 1630 to 1673.

The chapter refers to non-Catholic cemeteries founded since the 18th century within today’s borders of the Turek county. The city of Turek and the Turek county is a unique place because of the presence of the remains of three cultures ‒ Catholic, Protestant and Jewish, co-existing with each other from the eighteenth century to World War II. Today, the relics of the former Protestants and Jews who live here are primarily cemeteries, located in all municipalities of the county. Unbelievable devastation of both Jewish and Evangelical cemeteries began with the outbreak of World War II. Lack of proper protection and care for these places over the next decades has contributed to progressive and irreversible damage. Due to the unsettled history between the Polish, German and Jewish people, nowadays these places are the “forgotten” or “foreign” cultural heritage. Sometimes these cemeteries still exist as well preserved, but most often they are illegible, forested and without tombstones. Some places can be identified only by the slightly visible shapes of the graves, characteristic wild vegetation, or the terrain in the form of alleys and earth ramparts.

ONLINE COST-FREE DIGITAL EDITION. ENGLISH. 322 PAGES. 395 PICTURES. NAME INDEX INCLUDED. FIRST EDITION 2019. OVER 5,500 READS. Add 150 READS for 1st edition which was removed. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>   
MH GOVERs UNIQUE PHOTOS of the ONCE COLORFUL HEADSTONES of LOSICE Poland JEWISH CEMETERY.
This is the updated 2nd Edition.
TO TRACE SPECIFIC SURNAMES GO TO THE NAME INDEX AT THE END OF THIS BOOK.

On November 27, 1888, Isaac Weis entered a New Orleans hospital. The thirty-four-year-old peddler, a native of Austria, had been in the city for just two days. His diagnosis: typhoid fever. Exacerbated by poor sanitation and inadequate hygiene, cases of the dreaded bacterial disease arose most frequently among impoverished, malnourished immigrants. Except during the epidemic years of 1847 through 1852, just a handful of cases occurred annually in the Crescent City. In 1888 Touro Infirmary admitted three typhoid sufferers. Two died, one being Isaac Weis, who succumbed on December 20. The next day, the Touro lost another patient, Mrs. B. Levi, who fell victim to chronic albuminuria (albumin in the urine, symptomatic of kidney disease) after two days in the hospital. The forty-seven-year-old housewife had moved to New Orleans from Bavaria at the age of nineteen. Hers was one of two deaths from albuminuria at the Touro that year.

This historic preservation paper examines the situation that over the past 50 years has repeatedly led to a Jewish cemetery's neglect. It also respects the efforts of the Jewish Federation of Metrowest New Jersey but presents additional recommendations for preservation.

ONLINE COST-FREE DIGITAL EDITION. ENGLISH. 138 PAGES. 180 PICTURES. NAME INDEX INCLUDED. FIRST EDITION 2019. OVER 12,000 READS! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> MH GOVER portrays JEWISH MALTA byway of JEWISH MALTESE CEMETERIES on the islands.  TO TRACE SPECIFIC SURNAMES, USE the NAME INDEX at the END OF THIS BOOK.                 
JEWISH MALTA YOK? covers the stones and necrology of the 5 Jewish cemeteries in Malta: The ancient Gozo Jewish cemetery; The ancient Mdina Jewish Catacombs; The old Jewish cemetery in Kalkara; The old Jewish cemetery in Tashbish and present day Jewish cemetery in Marsa. 2,800 years of Jewish presence in the Maltese Islands are summarized here in one book.

As for the BUTTGIEG surname: BUTTIGIEG is a Jewish Maltese surname. See page #16 in this book. This surname originated from the Sephardic Jewish surname BENGIGI or BEN-GIGI. The BENGIGIs arrived in North-Africa and thereafter in Malta at the turn of the 16th century CE following the Jewish Expulsion from Iberia during the 15th-16th centuries. The Jewish Maltese were forced to convert into Catholicism by the fearsome Catholic church Inquisition terror regime at the 16th Century CE.
MIFSUD is a Jewish common Maltese surname as well.

JOSEPH BUTTIGIEG came to America in the 20th Century  from a suburb of Valletta, the capital of Malta. See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JOSEPH_BUTTIGIEG
His son PETE BUTTIGIEG became a 2020 US Presidential Democratic nominee. See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Buttigieg
Pete Buttigieg is self-attested Episcopalian. In Malta, the Buttigieg patronymic line remaines Catholic. 99% of present-day Maltese are Roman Catholics due to the 16th Century enforced Catholicism by the Inquisition terror regime. Today Catholicism is the official State Religion of Malta.
The combination of JEWISH ancestry and being a gay U.S. presidential nominee could prove lethal. On the other hand it could become yet another glass ceiling breaker, following the landmark of the 1st African-American president...

This research points for the Maltese patronymic surnames BUTTIGIEG and MIFSUD to be of Jewish heritage. I wrote this book Jewish Malta Yok? not knowing who Pete BUTTIGIEG is, thus obviously not knowing that shortly following publication he'd become a U.S. presidential nominee.

May 2019 UPDATE:
The common haplogroup governing Maltese patronymic males is G-M406.
A J. BUTTIGIEG (New-York) recently (2019) analyzed his Y-DNA with the FTDNA Genetic Lab in Houston, TX. The results point to Y-male cluster:
J1-M267>Z640>Z2293>Z642. This specific male haplogroup is of Jewish ancestry. Its progenitor venue is the Near-East dating the 10th Century BCE.

ONLINE COST-FREE DIGITAL EDITION. ENGLISH. 107 PAGES. 48 PICTURES. NAME INDEX INCLUDED. FIRST EDITION 2017. OVER 25,000 READS. 200 previous reads were erroneously erased.  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
MH GOVER TRIBUTES the JEWISH THESSALONIKI CEMETERY VANDALIZED SOLELY by GREEKS of THESSALONIKI in the YEARS 1942-1943, NOT by the then occupying GERMANS as MIS-CONCEPTUALLY PERCEIVED!

IN ORDER TO TRACE SPECIFIC SURNAMES, YOU MAY WANT TO GO FIRST TO THE NAME INDEX AT THE END OF THIS BOOK.

THINK ABOUT IT; BACK in 1943, IN PERFECT MUTUAL TIMING, WHILE THE GERMANS WERE BUSY GASSING VIRTUALLY THE ENTIRE 55,000 JEWISH POPULATION OF THESSALONIKI in the AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU GAS CHAMBERS in POLAND, the THESSALONIKI GREEKS in FULL CAHOOTS with the GERMANS, GOT BUSY LEVELING DOWN THE CITY'S HISTORIC JEWISH CEMETERY...

Three Jewish born Thessalonians who were forced in 1943-4 to perform the actual Jewish corpses removal from the Auschwitz-Birkenau Gas-Chambers into incinerators, speak up about their Thessaloniki childhood and their incarceration in Auschwitz: https://vimeo.com/2770577

THOU WHO STEPS THE LANES AND BUILDINGS, THOU WHO RESTS HER/ HIS BEHIND on any LECTURE HALL CHAIR in THE ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY campus of THESSALONIKI (AUTh), REMEMBER THE JEWISH GRAVES YOU ARE WALKING UPON...
THE AUTh CAMPUS IS THE VIVID ON-EARTH JEWISH GHOST TOWN...
THINK ABOUT WHAT ARIOSTO HIMSELF WOULD HAVE SAY ABOUT THOSE THESSALONIKI GREEK CRIMINALS... ARIOSTO of CHIOS, THE MASTER of E-T-H-I-C-S:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristo_of_Chios
https://www.auth.gr/en
You may notify the following officials your opinion about their campus Jewish venue:
Papaioannou Nikos - Rector, Dimitrios S. Koveos - Vice Rector, Haralambos Feidas – Vice Rector, Giannakoudakis Andreas - Vice Rector, Efstratios Stylianidis – Vice Rector

I'm not known as a WWII German Advocate; Under contrary! the Germans are responsible for the annihilation of 6 Million Jews during the years 1939 to 1945, Including the 55,000 Jewish Thessalonians and including my own immediate family in Poland; My patronymic grandparents, my aunt, my uncle, my patronymic and maternal great-uncles, great-aunts and their families; 500 women, men, children and the elderly, all of them 'guilty' of one single 'heavy crime': BEING JEWISH. And all of them were directly related to me.
https://www.geni.com/family-tree/canvas/6000000034622801378

Alas, in 1942 the civil occupying commander of Thessaloniki one, German attorney MAX MERTEN only HANDED OVER the Thessaloniki ancient Jewish Cemetery venue to the demanding Greek Mayor and City Council. Immediately thereafter in December 1942 and the beginning of 1943, THE GREEK CITIZENS OF THESSALONIKI, STARTING at THE GREEK MAYOR and THE GREEK CITY-COUNCIL and DOWN TO THE SIMPLEST GREEK CITIZENS OF THESSALONIKI, enthusiastically and with no hesitations whatsoever, practically with their bare hands like two legged animals do, BULLDOZED VANDALIZED, DESECRATED, LEVELED-DOWN, summed in one word: C-A-N-N-I-B-A-L-I-Z-E-D this 2,000 YEAR OLD WORLD ANCIENT CULTURAL JAM of THESSALONIKI. Immediately  following the destruction, the city council erected on top of the leveled Jewish cemetery the buildings of the Ariosto University of Thessaloniki (AUTh) campus, using for building material the... Jewish headstones which they just vandalized from the Jewish graves.
The Jewish stones were used as building material for new construction projects and... to renovate churches and stadiums across the city of Thessaloniki and elsewhere in Greece...
WHEN YOU PUT YOUR BEHIND ON THE BLEACHERS of the FAMOUS TOUMBA PAOK THESSALONIKI STADIUM,  REMEMBER THE JEWISH HEADSTONES YOU ARE SITTING UPON...

WHEN YOU CAME TO PRAY or SEEK MENTAL REFUGE  in THESSALONIKI WORLD FAMOUS AGIOS DIMITRIOS BASILICA ask the PRIESTS THERE TO DISPLAY THE JEWISH HEADSTONES EMBEDDED IN THE BASILICA HEAVY WALLS AND IN THE BASILICA BASEMENTS....

IF THIS IS NOT the UTMOST GREEK WWII ATROCITY AGAINST HUMANITY AND THE JEWISH PEOPLE, WHAT IS THAN ?

THE TWO ANTI-SEMITE THESSALONIKI MAYORS DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE for this ATROCITY were: MAYOR KONSTANTINOS MERKOURIOU (THESSALONIKI Mayor during the years 1937-1943) and MAYOR GEORGE SEREMETIS (THESSALONIKI Mayor during the years 1943-1944).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mayors_of_Thessaloniki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Seremetis
https://howlingpixel.com/i-en/List_of_mayors_of_Thessaloniki

A no less important substantial finding of this book is that the great MUSTAFA KEMAL ATATURK, Founder of the Turkish modern days republic, was born in Thessaloniki into Jewish ancestry of the Jewish-Donmeh sect. ATATURK's patronymic male line, son after son, goes back to the Jewish Kabbalist Rabbi SABBATAI ZVI patronymic line. A simple modern day low cost saliva Y-DNA test taken by any member of the ATATURK's  patronymic male line will scientifically confirm or refute this finding at close to the 100% Confidence Bar. Such test results can scientifically unfold ATATURK's patronymic line blood relatives in modern day Israel, Turkey, Greece, the Balkans and elsewhere. See:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustafa_Kemal_Atat%C3%BCrk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabbatai_Zevi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%B6nmeh

This full 2nd English Edition of the book is now available online for free online reading and free downloads.

The Thessaloniki Sephardic Jewish ancient Cemetery held 300,000 headstones and was the largest Jewish cemetery in the world, larger even than the large Ashkenazi Polish European cemeteries of Warsaw and Lodz.
During the end of 1942 and the beginning of 1943 this ancient and priceless world cultural jam, was fully vandalized, desecrated  and destroyed;
surprisingly, or maybe not so surprising, this Jewish cemetery was NOT vandalized by the then German occupiers of Greece but rather by the GREEK mayors and Greek City Council of Thessaloniki, and with full cooperation and support of the GREEK CITIZENS of Thessaloniki. Obviously, the German occupiers of Greece at that time did support such destruction but the actual leveling, bone exposure and headstone ripping of this ancient Jewish cemetery was performed solely and willingly by THE THESSALONIKI GREEK VANDALS... Needles to say that not a single Greek perpetrator was ever brought to justice for this act of brutal vandalism. The Thessaloniki Ariosto University dozens of buildings and lecture halls do stand firmly erected to date upon the Jewish graves... REMEMBER! זכור

A 13th-14th century marble relief icon is exhibited in the Museum of Byzantine Culture depicting Saint David ((fig 1-3). The icon was found in January 1944 in the Jewish cemetery, which was located outside the eastern city walls and destroyed by the German Nazi. It had been reused overturned as a tombstone for a Jewish grave. There is no evidence to prove its original location. The icon was conserved in 2001. No traces of written text were found at its back side (fig. 4-6). An unpublished, signed letter sent by Chrysoula Vlachou to Eftihia Kourkoutidou-Nikolaidou, the first director of the Museum of Byzantine Culture, which is kept in the archives of the Museum of Byzantine Culture, gives information about the historical background of its finding (fig. 7-8). The accidental tracking of the icon by the writer and group of peers playing in the ruins of the Jewish cemetery during the German Occupation is clearly described in this particular letter. The icon was loaded on a hand-held  carriage with the assistance of Constantine Platis, the archimandrite in the metropolis of Thessaloniki and headed to Evangelistria, the cemetery of the Greek Orthodox community, which was at a short distance. Later, the sender saw the icon in Rotonda (fig. 9) and in an exhibition in Athens. The Jewish cemetery covered an area of about 350 acres and contained 300,000-500,000 tombs. The oldest ones date back to the late 15th - early 16th century. Its complete destruction by the Nazi Germans, its transformation into public land, granted to the university and the extermination of the Jewish community, resulted in uprooting the members of the formerly thriving community from their historical roots. Furthermore, its destruction is related to the antiquities which came to light and what happened to them. Two archaeologists' reports, on 4th January 1943 and 15th July 1944 to the General Administration of Macedonia provide information on the damaged cemetery. Two more published sculptures of the MBC collection (BE 242/1 and AC 274), holding Jewish burial inscriptions of 1508 and 1615 AD originate from the same cemetery. The letter of the MBC collection adds on to the testimonies of the citizens of Thessaloniki, who had a vivid image the damaged cemetery and it sheds light on a dark period of the city.

Cross-disciplinary conference on European Jewish Cemeteries

A cross-disciplinary conference on Jewish cemeteries in Europe, held October 25-28 in Vilnius, Lithuania, gathered some 60 experts from more than a dozen countries and touched on a wide range of topics within the broad framework of theory, policy, management, and dissemination of information.
Organized by the Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) Europe and hosted by the Lithuanian Jewish community, the conference was a specialized follow-up to the working seminar on managing Jewish built heritage held in Krakow in April 2013.
The conference had three core aims:
— To review the achievements since Krakow, including new trends in technology
— To explore key issues through a series of roundtable and panel discussions
— To encourage future collaboration among participating individuals and organizations, exploring how they can work together, encourage cross-border opportunities and consider further strategic co-operation.
Participants also were taken on site visits to half a dozen Jewish cemeteries and sites of mass graves in Vilnius and several other towns: Pabrade, Svencioneliai, and Svencionys.
The introductory keynote on today’s needs and challenges was given by Dr. Michael Brocke, Professor of Jewish Studies at the Steinheim Institute in Germany, and a noted scholar on Jewish cemetery preservation, documentation and epigraphy.
Specific sessions at the conference focused on:
— The Value of a Jewish cemetery (Jewish law; honoring the dead; education; tourism; cultural heritage; art and architecture; historical source through epitaphs and inscriptions; genealogy, etc)
— Cemetery restoration — what to do; how to do it; historical perspectives
— Ownership and accessibility of information
— Different approaches to preservation: fencing; documentation
— Jewish cemeteries as part of European and World Heritage (including efforts to get Jewish cemeteries including on UNESCO’s cultural heritage roster
— The role of the internet in documentation; dissemination; attracting interest in preservation
— Advances in the use of technology
— Cemeteries and scholarship
— Building stakeholder relationships — among and between owners and other interested parties (Jewish communities; descendants; municipalities; NGOs, etc)
There was also a session devoted to the situation of Jewish cemeteries in Lithuania (which are owned by municipalities).
The conference concluded with a screening of A Town Called Brzostek, an award-winning film by Simon Target that documents, step by step, the process of restoring and rededicating the ravaged Jewish cemetery in the village of Brzostek, in southeastern Poland, spearheaded by UK scholar Jonathan Webber, whose grandfather came from the town. Webber introduced the film and spoke about the experience.
Several key themes emerged from presentations, discussion and what conference participants saw on the ground during site visits.
These included:
— The difference in general approaches in cemetery care, preservation and management. This was perhaps best illustrated in the contrast between what can be called the “macro” and “micro” approaches.
The macro approach is best illustrated by that of the recently created European Jewish Cemetery Project ESJF, funded by private donors and the German government,  whose aim, as outlined by its CEO Philip Carmel, is to erect fences around as as many Jewish cemeteries in Europe as possible, but not engage in other clean-up, restoration, documentation or further maintenance.
“We are a macro type organization,” he said. “We don’t have attachments … to the inside of a cemetery. We deal with protection and preservation, not renovation and restoration. We think that the fact that we can protect a site from the outside will make it easier for [others] to come in [and work on restoration].”
This was in sharp contrast to the “micro” approach as outlined by Jonathan Webber, with the Brzostek project, and by Dr. Michael Lozman, who has spearheaded the restoration of more than a dozen Jewish cemeteries. These approaches emphasize close cooperation and involvement with local people in carrying out and maintaining Jewish cemetery projects: Lozman’s method fences cemeteries, for example, but with low fences aimed at being indicators of boundaries rather than as physical protection.
Webber described his approach as “Jewish Cultural diplomacy.”
He said: “Don’t just parachute in and fix a cemetery – involve the local people, make them feel that it is their project. I wasn’t aware how much the locals wanted to learn about their own local history of their village. I used a local contractor for the work, for example. And I worked with the priest; I didn’t just just invite him to come to the dedication but to officiate together with me and the chief rabbi to make it a genuinely interfaith affair. I wanted to make an impact on the local people. It was done in a spirit of dialogue – that Jewish heritage today belongs to everyone. We can’t expect people to look after Jewish heritage today unless they feel that it is theirs.”
— The need to establish and publish “best practice” guidelines that could serve as models for municipalities, Jewish communities, NGOs and individuals on the ground. A number of participants raised this issue — as did some of the local stakeholders met during site visits.
“There is a need for practical but sustainable solutions,” said Martynas Užpelkis, who coordinates Jewish heritage preservation issues for the Lithuanian Jewish community. “There are no standard practices; there is a lack of knowledge. There is a need for seeting standards, or developing and monitoring management plans for each cemetery; for training and counselling. […] Local people who want to help ask basic questions.  Can we produce guidelines?”
—  The value of new technologies in cemetery documentation, research, restoration.
These include, as discussed by forensic archaeologist Dr. Caroline Sturdy Colls, new non-intrusive techniques such as ground-penetrating radar and other tools that can explore Jewish cemeteries, determine grave sites and boundaries and find other information even when all surface evidence of the cemetery has been destroyed. Other techniques, as demonstrated by Jay Osborn, show ways that digitizing old maps can help find borders. And Prof. Leonard Rutgers discussed new techniques that can aid in reading even very weathered inscriptions.
— The need for collaboration on international and interdisciplinary levels on Jewish cemetery work.
“We should create a network of people and institutions that take care of cemeteries, to have permanent platform to exchange ideas, and have a common voice,” said Dario DiSegni, the president of the Italian Jewish Heritage Foundation, echoing a number of other participants.

В статье рассматривается развитие и распространение символики дерева на надгробиях христианских и еврейских некрополей Беларуси ХІХ–ХХ вв. Выделяются основные значения символики дерева и ее специфика в контексте мемориальной культуры. Дерево было известно как мемориальный символ в христианской и в еврейской культурах, обладающий в каждой своими специфическими характеристиками и иконологической традицией. В ходе развития модернизационных процессов и надгробной пластики в конце ХІХ – начале ХХ в. появляется тип надгробия, который получает распространение в обеих культурах. Это памятники в виде комля дерева с обрезанными ветвями, которые сохраняли популярность на протяжении более ста лет. Исследуются истоки возникновения этого типа памятника, его связь с европейскими эстетическими движениями ХІХ в. Дается краткий обзор современного использования символики дерева в оформлении надгробий. Основой для статьи послужили материалы авторских экспедиций по некрополям Беларуси.

М. Носоновский. Еврейские надгробные надписи из Глубокого как исторический источник и явление культуры // Глубокое: память о еврейском местечке / Отв. ред. И. Копченова. – М.: Центр «Сэфер», 2017. – Сс. 287-300. (Приложение: Алфавитный указатель имен. Топонимы Составители Александра Фишель  и Михаил Васильев, сс. 301-314).

In ‚Der jüdische Bezirksfriedhof von Jugenheim (1)' wurden neben allgemeinen Informationen zu den Besonderheiten jüdischer Friedhöfe insbesondere die historischen Hintergründe der Entstehung eines jüdischen Bezirksfriedhofs in Jugenheim herausgearbeitet und charakteristische Grabsteine des 20.Jahrhunderts transkribiert, erläutert und übersetzt. Im zweiten Teil der Artikelreihe wenden wir uns der innerhistorischen Entwicklung des jüdischen Friedhofs von Jugenheim zu und transkribieren, erläutern und übersetzen typische Grabsteine des 19.Jahrhunderts.

The formation of the Jewish community in Troitsk (Chelyabinsk region) began in the second third of the 19th century. According to the Judaism, one of the main commandments is the construction of a separate Jewish cemetery promptly. The Troitsk cemetery, dating back to the pre-revolution times, has survived to the present day. The gravestones of the ancient Jewish graveyards are a valuable source of information in the studies of local Jewish communities. The author has conducted a field research of Troitsk Jewish cemetery, highlighting the typical traits of the graves and classifying the copied gravestones data. As a result, the chronological framework of the given cemetery has been clarified. In addition, there has been collected the information concerning the languages used in inscriptions; the application of national calendar in stating the date of death; the specific features of graves of different periods as well as other valuable statistical insights. Moreover, it has noted the existence of historically and genealogically significant information on the tombstones along with the completion of the list of people buried in Troitsk Jewish cemetery.

Storia urbanistica e architettonica del territorio di Fiorentina, a Livorno, con particolare riferimento alla chiesa di San Matteo (XVIII secolo), l'ortatorio di S. Antonino, la Barriera Fiorentina (Carlo Reishammer, Alessandro Manetti), i vari cimiteri della zona (cattolico armeno, ebraico, protestante olandese-alemanno, greco-ortodosso) e l'evoluzione del trasporto pubblico (linee tramviarie, filoviarie e ferroviarie, con riferimento alla Livorno-Tirrenia-Pisa e al deposito ferroviario di via Provinciale Pisana).

Mitchell, Paul, Topographie und Infrastruktur des Judenviertels im spätmittelalterlichen Wien. In: Maria Stürzebecher, Simon Paulus (Hg.), Inter Judeos – Topographie und Infrastruktur jüdischer Quartiere im Mittelalter, Erfurter Schriften zur Jüdischen Geschichte 5, Erfurt 2019, 54-63.

A Salgótarjáni és Kozma utcai zsidó temetők síremlékei között különleges csoportot alkotnak az egyiptizáló stílusban épült síremlékek és családi mauzóleumok, amelyek nagyszerűen illusztrálják az ókori egyiptomi  művészet hazai sírépítészetre gyakorolt hatását. Tervezésük többnyire a kor jeles  építészeihez köthető. A jelentős műemléki, művészet- és kultúrtörténeti értékkel bíró csoport önálló művészettörténeti elemzésére – néhány síremlék ismertsége ellenére – eddig nem került  sor. Tudományos feldolgozásuk az egyiptológia területén szintén elvégzésre vár. Tanulmányom elsősorban ezt a hiányt kívánja pótolni, és választ keres többek között  arra a kérdésre, hogy mi motiválhatta a megrendelőt, amikor síremléke egyiptomi  stílusa mellett döntött. Egyben lehetőséget nyújt a kutatás során nyert, eddig feltáratlan építészettörténeti adatok ismertetésére, és kísérletet tesz az egyiptománia hazai  sírépítészetre gyakorolt hatása mögött megbúvó kulturális és társadalmi jellegzetességek feltárására.

Un lavoro collettivo di alcuni tra i più interessanti storici italiani dedicato allo straordinario patrimonio dei cimiteri storici realizzati in Italia dal 1750 all’inizio della seconda guerra mondiale. Un sofisticato laboratorio figurativo e progettuale che vede alcuni tra i più importanti architetti, scultori, artisti e decoratori delle diverse epoche impegnati nella realizzazione dei diversi impianti cimiteriali e nel tempo delle migliaia di tombe e cappelle custodite in queste preziose necropoli a cielo aperto. Una storia del cimitero che diventa anche narrazione di quasi due secoli di storia sociale, culturale e artistica italiana attraverso le vicende costruttive dei grandi cimiteri storici nazionali dal Monumentale di Milano passando per Venezia, Bologna, Genova, Firenze, Roma, Napoli, Palermo e per tutti quei piccoli recinti della memoria che narrano della nascita artistica di una nazione.

Giuffrè M., Mangone F., Pace S., Selvafolta O. (editors)

Hebrew gravestone inscriptions from Jewish cemeteries from the region called Raysn (mostly in current Belarus and partially in Ukraine) are studied as a historical source and a literature genre. The epitaphs express the idea of a connection between the ideal world of Scripture and religious Hebrew books and the world of everyday life of a shtetl or community. This can be traced at several levels. First, at the level of inscriptions' structure, the epitaph includes an indication of the place ("here lies"), time (date), and name, thus tying the deceased to a specific "coordinate system". Second, biblical quotations emphasize the relation of a particular life and death to the situation with that described in the Bible. Third, at the language level, despite the fact that epitaphs are almost always written in Hebrew and not in Yiddish, we are dealing with certain features of Hebrew-Yiddish bilingualism. Hebrew terms could simultaneously be Yiddish lexemes. We observe orthography code-switching between Hebrew consonant spelling and Yiddish phonetic spelling, depending on whether the concept is found in Hebrew holy books or in everyday life. Fourth, epitaphs occupy an intermediate position between the "high", author's literature and canonical religion, on the one hand, and folk literature and religion, on the other hand. The difference between the epitaphs from Ukraine and Belarus is discussed.

THE SOUTHERN END OF THE MEDIEVAL JEWISH CEMETERY OF THE CERRO DE LA HORCA (TOLEDO): THE OTHER CEMETERIES CONTACT PROBLEM. The archaeological excavation of a plot on 25 General Villalba St. has allowed for the identification of what could have been part the southern end of the Medieval Jewish Cemetery of the Cerro de la Horca, an area characterized by the presence of three different rite cemeteries: the aforementioned Jewish cemetery, a Muslim Taifa Period cemetery linked to the Madrid road, and a Christian cemetery associated to the San Eugenio hermitage. In addition, the lack of lucillos (brick half-barrelled vaults) and the presence of side covacha (rock-cut) and terraced tombs contributes to a more complete knowledge of both the burial typology known for this cemetery, and its evolution and development.

The article discusses changing ways of Jewish cemetery space development in the 19th century.The process began under the influence of progressive demands of Haskalah supporters, but its causes
should be also sought in legislation which at the close of the Age of Reason aimed at improving hygiene and health of citizens living in developing large urban centres. Newly introduced regulations did not concern only Jews, they were general and resulted in a new attitude to
designing necropolises of various denominations. In the first place, evolution of cemetery space affected complexes established in the cities of Western Europe, where progressive Jewish circles were more influential and powerful than orthodox groups. In Central and Eastern
Europe, the process progressed more slowly and met greater resistance of traditionalists.The author of the article discusses reasons and the course of changes which took place in the spatial layout of Jewish cemeteries, referring to particular complexes in Berlin, Vienna, Budapest or Warsaw and Łódź, describes designs and plants of new Jewish cemeteries, which throughout the 19th century became similar to parks with representative avenues, floral decoration and benches.

Le monument mis au jour en 1976 dans la cour du palais de justice de Rouen est le plus important vestige archéologique de la présence juive médiévale sur le territoire de la France actuelle. C’est la « butte témoin » d’une présence millénaire que les expulsions médiévales vont presque réduire à néant. En effet, la France, dans un mouvement de rejet qui a touché la plupart des pays de l’Europe occidentale, a banni les juifs au Moyen Âge. Dans le domaine royal, ces expulsions seront le fait de Philippe Auguste en 1182, de Philippe le Bel en 1306 et de Charles VI en 1394. Échappent à ce processus quelques enclaves régionales comme le Comtat Venaissin (alors sous l’autorité du pape) et l’Alsace (rattachée à la France en 1648). En Angleterre,
les juifs arrivés avec Guillaume le Conquérant sont expulsés en 1290 par Édouard Ier. En Espagne, la dernière des expulsions est concomitante de la prise de Grenade en 1492, qui clôt le processus de la Reconquista. Dans le comté de Provence, rattaché au royaume de France en 1487, l’expulsion a finalement lieu en 1501.
Cette présence juive a laissé des traces innombrables dans la toponymie, mais aussi dans les archives écrites, tant latines qu’hébraïques. Pour autant, comme fait de civilisation, le judaïsme serait presque oublié en France sans les découvertes régulières de vestiges archéologiques qui se sont multipliées depuis les années 1990 avec le développement de l’archéologie préventive.

Previously titled "Interpreting the Reconstruction of Synagogues and Jewish Cemeteries as Holocaust Memorials In Eastern European Urban Landscapes," this paper was originally written for a 3rd/4th year undergraduate seminar paper for GMST 489 (I-witness Holocaust Field School Program) at the University of Victoria. It has since undergone peer-review and has been extensively revised with the assistance of Nathan Deschamps and Dylan Sanderson. After postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper was published in the UBC Journal of Historical Studies (Formerly, the Atlas), an  undergraduate journal based out of the University of British Columbia.

Il volume, catalogo della mostra tenuta presso il Museo dal 23 maggio al 15 luglio 2009, è lo sforzo corale di 37 autori che si sono cortesemente prestati a questa collaborazione. La mostra, dedicata al più vasto complesso monumentale di Bologna, che copre la storia della città dal sepolcreto etrusco (VI - III secolo a.c.) al convento certosino, fino al cimitero pubblico creato nel 1801, ha proposto opere e studi in gran parte inediti, riassumendo dieci anni di impegno volti alla riscoperta e alla valorizzazione della Certosa: erano infatti esposte opere di Pietro Fancelli, Giovanni Putti, Enrico Barbèri, Silverio Montaguti, disegni, incisioni e progetti, integrati da itinerari opportunamente predisposti all’interno della Certosa stessa, nell'intento di evidenziare come in questo luogo si intreccino e vivano in una profonda interrelazione tutti gli aspetti della storia: artistico, storico, antropologico, letterario, scientifico.

Il volume è frutto di un’accurata indagine dei luoghi di sepoltura ebraici dal punto di vista della storia dell’architettura e delle città. Dagli “orti” o “campacci” medioevali e rinascimentali fino alle sezioni israelitiche nei moderni cimiteri ottocenteschi, la regolamentazione di questi spazi è stata spesso l’occasione per ridefinire i rapporti fra la comunità e questa antica minoranza, fra tentativi di assimilazione e antigiudaismo, andando ben al di là degli aspetti pratici del problema.Passando in rassegna i grandi cimiteri israelitici di Trieste, Roma, Milano, Torino, Firenze, Livorno, Venezia fino a quelli delle comunità più piccole ma non meno significative di Bologna, Ferrara, Modena, Ancona o Napoli, ci si accorge che lo studio di queste architetture simboliche e dei luoghi destinati al ricordo svela il loro valore altamente metaforico: lo studio di queste speciali “città dei morti” è in grado di restituirci un affascinante intreccio di storie e memorie che è parte integrante e inscindibile della storia d’Italia.