14 May 2009
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Lo Tishkach is pleased to announce the completion of the latest stage of development of our Database of European Jewish Burial Grounds. Functions now available include the ability to view locations on Google Maps, a more advanced search function, and high-quality image-viewing software. |
For new visitors, and as a recap for those who have already used the database, basic instructions for database use, hints for more successful searches and possible explanations for any search problems you might encounter can be found here.
We are committed to making the database as accessible and user-friendly as possible, and would appreciate our visitors’ comments and suggestions for improvement. Please send your thoughts by e-mail to info@lo-tishkach.org or via our Contact Us Form.
About the Lo Tishkach Database
Established in 2006 and created with the help of data inputters throughout Europe, the Lo Tishkach Database of European Jewish Burial Grounds features information on more than 9,600 Jewish cemeteries and mass graves provided by Jewish communities, heritage organisations, academic institutes and many interested individuals. This supplemented by up-to-date condition reports carried out by Lo Tishkach. While Jewish cemeteries make up the majority of the records, the database features information on all types on Jewish burial ground and also includes Jewish mass graves, Jewish sections of municipal cemeteries and the graves of Jewish soldiers buried in war cemeteries.
The Lo Tishkach Foundation aims for the database to include comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date details of all Jewish burial grounds in Europe, of which there are believed to be over 20,000.
Ongoing Development
Our initial task is to identify all the burial sites in Europe in the shortest time possible so that this vital record of Jewish life is recorded for posterity. Therefore, we have taken the decision at this stage to concentrate on what we have termed “core data” of cemeteries. This means that each record contains at least the location and address of each cemetery plus basic information on the specific geographical location of the town or village as well as the source from which this information was compiled.
As the Lo Tishkach project develops and as we lead surveys to physically check the current state of cemeteries (‘Cemetery and Mass Grave Surveys Underway in Kiev and Odessa Oblasts, Ukraine’ – 13 May 2009) more information will be added to these records, creating a detailed up-to-date record of the current state of each and every burial ground in Europe. More detailed and comprehensive data is already online for some cemeteries, most notably in the Masovian Region of Poland, most of the Czech Republic, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Moldova and for mass graves in Latvia.
