In recent months, a number of initiatives to preserve Jewish cemeteries in Poland have been undertaken by the Rabbinical Commission on Cemeteries in Poland with the assistance of the Foundation for Jewish Heritage in Poland, municipalities and the local population.
The Lo Tishkach Database of European Jewish Burial Grounds now contains details on more than 800 World War II-era Jewish mass graves in Ukraine. This is thought to be the most complete record of Ukrainian Jewish mass graves available in the English language.
Germany: Two Cemeteries Vandalised, New Cemetery Planned in Frankfurt, Shattered Gravestones to be Reassembled, Cemeteries to be Restored – Greece: Cemetery Desecrated – Poland: Maintenance Agreement for Gorzow Wielkopolski, Suwalki to be Monitored – Sweden: Malmö Jewish Cemetery Firebombed.
The Lo Tishkach Foundation has recently completed a comparative report on the legislation and practice relating to the protection and preservation of over 5,200 Jewish burial grounds located in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia.
The weekend of 20/21 December saw 35 Jewish students from all over Ukraine participate in a pilot event in preparation for the launch of burial site surveys throughout Ukraine in late spring 2009.
