Lo Tishkach is to continue its surveys into Jewish cemeteries in Transcarpathia in eastern Ukraine.
Following on from previous survey projects which covered more than 100 sites in seven districts (or ‘raions’) of the region located in the far south-east of Ukraine, the 2012 and 2013 surveys will include a total of 79 sites across three different raions.
It is estimated that about 280 Jewish cemeteries are located in Ukrainian Transcarpathia, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and then part of Hungary prior to WWII. Although typically in better condition than Jewish burial sites elsewhere in Ukraine, most of these sites, which are dotted around the villages of the Carpathian foothills, are at risk as they lack formal protection.
The project, carried out by highly qualified researchers under the guidance of Jewish heritage specialists, A. Fedorchuk and B. Khaimovich, will focus on the study of gravestones as a means to gather more data about the early history of smaller and more remote Jewish communities in the region.
From the 17th century onwards, the region bordering on Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia attracted a large Jewish population creating a unique multi-ethnic local mosaic. Prior to the Holocaust, more than 300 Jewish communities existed in Transcarpathia.
