4 September 2009
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The Lo Tishkach Foundation has completed a report on legislation and practice relating to the protection and preservation of Jewish burial grounds in Estonia. The report, based on preliminary research, finds that most of the country’s 11 Jewish cemeteries and approximately 20 Holocaust killing and mass grave sites receive basic maintenance. |
However, the quality and frequency of maintenance varies greatly from one site to another. Most Jewish burial grounds in Estonia are owned by municipalities and other public bodies, with two cemeteries being the property of the Jewish community. One cemetery site is privately owned.
A 2003 US-Estonia agreement on cultural properties has been useful in promoting research on and documentation of Holocaust sites, eight of which have been marked so far with the help of the Estonian Ministry of Culture. Additional provisions in both national and international bodies of law may be used to campaign for further protection of the country’s Jewish cemeteries and mass graves, the vast majority of which are currently not listed as sites of cultural heritag
