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World Jewish News
Question about Jewish cemetery in Mogilev Raised With Local Government
09.06.2009
Chairman of the Jewish autonomous religious community of Mogilev Eli Genilis and Rabbi Menachem-Mendel Alperovich met with the Governor of Mogilev region, Peter Rudnik.
The subject of discussion was the Jewish cemetery. The problem is that in the 1980s, without an agreement with the Jews of Mogilev, people of other nationalities began to be buried there.
This destroyed the old gravestones and tombs, while the territory for the Jewish cemetery had been bought over 300 years ago.
The legal chaos became most notable in the late 80's and continued in the 90's.
The old Jewish burials were being barbarously demolished, and new non-Jewish graves appeared on that site illegally, with the surrounding fences large enough for a dozen graves.
By 2003, at the expense of the Jewish foreign sponsor, the damaged fence had been replaced with a concrete embankment around the whole territory of the cemetery, a special house was built, and a memorial sign was erected at the spot where the remains of Jewish burials, barbarously scattered all over the cemetery, were reburied.
At the new gate, there were six-pointed stars and Jewish symbols.
But by the works completion, the cemetery without the consent of the religious Jewish organizations was identified as public and closed.
Until now, the cases of new burials outside the existing fences take place.
One of the sections of the cemetery, selected previously by Mogilev City executive committee, is still empty, but it is very difficult to bury the dead according to the Jewish tradition because many people have no place within the fence of the relatives' graves.
Thus, one of the rights granted by the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus on the freedom of religion is broken, because there is no possibility of burying the dead according to the laws of Judaism.
Still the vast majority of graves on the cemetery are Jewish, including the mass grave of more than 23 thousand remains of the people of Jewish nationality who were brutally tortured during the Nazi occupation of 1941-1944.
Among the Jews, buried on this cemetery, are those who were bravely defending their homeland at the front lines, who selflessly worked for the Soviet state, experienced all the difficulties of evacuation, helped restore the destroyed Mogilev, and made an enormous contribution to the current well-being of the country.
None of them thought there would be such disorders at the Jewish cemetery, and that no one would think about morality and human values, which are so easy to upset, but, as it turned out, are very difficult to restore.
Heritage is something that we leave to our successors. It should not contain darkness, induration and ugliness.
All this was outlined to the Governor during the meeting, and without unnecessary delay, he gave orders to the services to study the problem and suggest ways for its solution within one week.
The meeting moved from "sad" to a more interesting part, where the suggestions of mutual cooperation for the benefit of people living in the city and the region were articulated.
The meeting ended on an optimistic note, and gave confidence of further fruitful cooperation.
In memory of the meeting, the representatives of the Jewish community presented the Governor with a Jewish calendar.
The Jewish community hopes that in anticipation of the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus, including Mogilev, from the Nazis, a triumph of historic and moral justice will take place in regard of the Jewish cemetery in the city.
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