The cemetery story. In Ternopil region found hundreds of Jewish tombstones destroyed
As in Husyatyn district found a unique gravestone of the middle of XVIII — early XX centuries from the ancient Jewish cemetery and that local authorities are going to do with this discovery
In winter, husyatyn the doctor-the traumatologist Michael Levitsky came to the reception the pensioner from a neighbouring village Chubarivka. During the conversation she mentioned that on the outskirts of the village saw lying in the weeds the old Jewish tombstones — Matseva — perished in husyatyn cemetery. Levitsky — not only a doctor but also the head of Husyatyn community — interested. As soon as the snow melted, he went to the indicated place and found the gravestones, which the Union used as building material for the barn of the collective farm “Communist”.
Now local authorities decide what to do with the finding. “The primary task for today — to collect all the scattered gravestones. This must be done quickly, given that the location of the barn is planned a large building, — the chief of Department of culture of the Soviet Gusyatinsky Sergey ryzewski. — What to do with tombstones, think. The first thing that comes to mind is to build a memorial Wall on which they are preserved.” “History of the Goose is inseparable from the history of the Jews, before the First world amounting to almost two-thirds of the local population,” notes Levitsky.
The first Jewish cemetery wanted to destroy back in 1739, when Sochi was visited Kamenets Bishop wacław Sierakowski. Seeing that the Jewish community organized a burial on the land which the Bishop believed the monastery, he asked to move the grave. Then the Jews said the owner of the town Franciszek Potocki Salesy. During the occupation the Nazis rolled the cemetery tanks. The locals knew the history of a vacant lot in the middle of the village, therefore to build in the wrong place in a hurry. Only in the 1970-ies there were built houses and social facilities. Tombstones were taken, and until recently, nothing about them was known.
Michael Levitsky did not anticipate that discovery will be so large-scale: gravestones are hundreds, maybe more than five hundred. To create a memorial due to the scarce budget of the village of unrealistic government for several years can’t find the funds for the restoration of one of the main historical monuments of the village — the synagogue of the XVII century. So the head is hoping for financial support of local businessmen and Jewish community organizations.