Cemetery – Bukovina Jewish Heritage Sites

Chudei Jewish Memorial and Cemetery – provided by Philip Moses of Vancouver, Canada – 6/2018

This post documents the site at Chudei, (also known as Ciudin by the Jews in 1940) Ukraine (formerly Romania) based on a visit by me, Philip Moses of Vancouver, Canada and my brother Richard Moses of Ottawa, Canada on May 10, 2018.

There is a memorial on the site of the mass murder, located about a block or two from the town centre, next to a Primary School.

We were transported by 2 guides, originating In Suceava Roumania and driving to the border where we walked into Ukraine and met a Ukrainian driver. The border has long waits and therefore the idea to walk across the border both ways.

The road from Storozhynets direction is in much better shape, and although Google shows the more direct route as shorter time-wise, it is in very bad condition and actually takes longer. So, we recommend the longer route.

Not far from the centre of the village is a school for young children. Just behind the school there is a playground and next to it is a large memorial with a base in the shape of a Magen David.

The Memorial

The school. In 1941 – courthouse and jail

In that school site, in 1941 there was a courthouse and jail. Sometime between July 3-5, 1941, the 650 Jews of the town were locked into the main jail. Then our grandfather, aunts and uncles and cousins were shot and thrown into a mass grave behind the building.

My father Asiu Moses was hiding in the woods and escaped. His full story can be found at https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/Chudyn/chu001.html

The original Jewish cemetery of Chudei is out of the village along the road, in the same direction from town as the memorial, a kilometre or two opposite to the Christian cemetery. It is very overgrown and many of the tombstones would require a large cutting tool to chop down the overgrowth. The writing on many of the stones is difficult or impossible to discern. Many are in better shape and identifiable.

Banila Czernowitz Ropcha and Storozhinetz [Eng] – 9/2017 – by Naftali Zloczower

Roots trip to Bukovina

My name is Naftali Zloczower, and both my parents, Dvora (Dora) Schneider Zloczower and Menachem (Maniu) Zloczower, were born, raised, and lived in Storojinets (Storozhynets), Bukovina (today in Ukraine), until the second world war, as did many members of my family and relatives.

In September of this year, 2017, my wife, Nava and I took a roots trip to Bukovina, visiting Czernowits (Chernivtsi), Storojinets, Banila (Banyliv-Pidhirni) and Rupcze (Ropche). We visited Lvov (Lviv) and Zloczow (Zolochiv – probably the source of my family name), but they are in Galicia, and not in Bukovina.

In Chernivtsi, we visited the archive and were presented with 3 files of Romanian records listing Jews who lived in the Storojinets Ghetto in August 1941, before they were herded away to the Transnistria camps. When time ran out, just before closing time, a file with records from Banila was brought to us, but, even though we were allowed to stay after the normal closing time, we did not have enough time to go over the Banila file. In the Storojinets files we found listings of all the members of my mother’s family, including my mother, her sisters and brother, and her parents, as well as listings of many other family members, relatives, and acquaintances. I photographed pages that included names of relatives and familiar last names.

In Storojinets, we found the house of my mother’s family and, we are pretty sure, the house of my father’s family. We also found and photographed the Great Temple on what was Temple Gasse, and the school were my mother and aunts learned.

We visited the Jewish cemeteries in Stotojinets and in Banila, In Banila, we found my great-grandfather, Yossel Zloczower’s grave and the grave of his brother (most probably), Peretz Zloczower, whom I did not know before. In the Storojinets Cemetery we found graves of my maternal great-grandparents, Abraham and Scheindel Schneider, and graves of quite a few family members and relatives. I photographed tombstones with familiar last names.

I wrote a report of our roots trip in Hebrew, and I will write one in English, as well.

See below the link to the trip report.

Roots – 9-2017

See below pictures from Banila Cemetery:
The house nearby and the trail to the cemetery.

The tombstones peeping from the bushes

Tombstones and Zloczower family members tombstones

Pictures from Storozhynetz Cemetery

Pictures from Banila

Pictures from Storozhynets

The old synagogue… serves now as a gym… better than previously being a gypsy market…

Shargorod Memorial – 8/2017 – by Josef (Julku) Klein

This memorial was erected at the Shargorod Cemetery. It was the initiative of and funding by the engineer Mr. Rubin (Bubby) Laufman, a native of Kimpolung, in memory of his father Zeev (Wilhelm) Laufman and his grandmother Sarah and his grandfather Joseph, and not less important, to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust from the communities of Kimpolung-Bukovina and the surrounding area, who were deported to Transnistria, to the Shargorod ghetto, during World War II, where they perished from illnesses, cold, hunger and endless marches in Ukranian roads. Some of them were buried on the site as individuals, but most of them were buried in a mass grave in the Shargorod cemetery.

Here is an article (in German) written by Mr. Klein and 3 pictures taken during the dedication ceremony.

Shargorod monument

Stanesti de Jos (Stanivtsi) Jewish Cemetery – 14 July 2016 – by Baruch Eylon

On 11-15 July 2016 a delegation of the World Organization of Bukovina Jews traveled to North Bukovina for a pilot project to survey Jewish Heritage Sites in the area around Storozhynetz. The team members were Sara Sweiry, Nathan Kinsbrunner and Baruch Eylon.

During this trip the team surveyed 12 heritage sites, met with local officials, filled the questionnaire (using a mobile application that allows capturing text and pictures, including GPS coordinates) and posted the information on the web, to make it available to all interested people around the world.

The team also prepared recommendations what to do in each site.
The filled survey about this site can be seen at

http://gazpacho.netalizer.co.il/gazpachoNG/#/public-report/5575719/17992/C4WSGLEWZJ?l=he-il

This post provides pictures taken by the team at the Jewish Cemetery in Stanesti de Jos / Stanivtsi. The cemetery – a very big one, probably at least 1,000 tombstones, is located in the fields out of the village. The vegetation is so high the only the tips of the tombstones can be seen (When you know you’re near the cemetery). A lady from the village took us there.

Mr. Irving Osterer from Ottawa, Canada has also posted about Stanesti de Jos. You can see his post at:
http://www.eylonconsulting.com/bukovina/blog/?p=1510

Here are the pictures taken by the team in the village and at the cemetery.

Stara Zhadova Jewish Cemetery – 14 July 2016 – by Baruch Eylon

The team also prepared recommendations what to do in each site.
The filled survey about this site can be seen at

http://gazpacho.netalizer.co.il/gazpachoNG/#/public-report/5572215/17992/D9QZTIX5JQ?l=he-il

This post provides pictures taken by the team at the Jewish Cemetery in Stara Zhadova. The cemetery is located in the private yard of a village citizen. The grass that grows there is cut by a young juvenile as his punishment.

Here are the pictures taken by the team in the village, with the head of the village and at the cemetery.

Czernowitz Jewish Cemetery – 14 July 2016 – by Baruch Eylon

The team also prepared recommendations what to do in each site.

This post provides pictures taken by the team in the Jewsish Cemetery in Czernowitz with focus on the “Ohel” and the memorial near it.

Here are the pictures taken at the cemetery. The “Ohel” is planned to be renovated and turned into a museum.

Hlyboka Jewish Cemetery – 11 July 2016 – by Baruch Eylon

The team also prepared recommendations what to do in each site.
The filled survey about this site can be seen at

http://gazpacho.netalizer.co.il/gazpachoNG/#/public-report/5539431/17992/SSNT2D6DT8?l=he-il

This post provides pictures taken by the team in Hlyboka . We met the mayor and his deputy who took us to the Jewish Cemetery, located in the yard of a local citizen, living 50m off the road getting to Hlyboka from Storozhynetz.

Here are the pictures in the cemetery and with the officials.

Berehomet Jewish Cemetery/Memorial – 12 July 2016 – by Baruch Eylon

The team also prepared recommendations what to do in each site.
The filled survey about this site can be seen at

http://gazpacho.netalizer.co.il/gazpachoNG/#/public-report/5555090/17992/QYGVVE1YSR?l=he-il

This post provides pictures taken by the team in Berehomet. Until 1961 there was a Jewish cemetery in Berehomet, but then the authorities annihilated it and built there a factory. As of now most of the factory is neglected, and in its area a memorial room was built, with 3 symbolic graves/stones. Two memorial plaques are in the room.
We have met the head of the village who gave us a booklet that had a picture of the cemetery. Here is that picture:

Here are pictures of the team with the head of the village, the factory where the memorial room is, pictures from inside the memorial.

Chudey – Jewish Cemetery and Memorial – 12 July 2016 – by Baruch Eylon

The team also prepared recommendations what to do in each site.
The filled survey about this site can be seen at

http://gazpacho.netalizer.co.il/gazpachoNG/#/public-report/5555213/17992/VLU9FHO6D8?l=he-il

This post provides pictures taken by the team at the Jewish Cemetery and at the memorial in Chudey, for Jews that were murdered in WWII . The memorial is located in the school near the center of the village. In that place, in WWII, were the prison and court. The cemetery is out of the village along the road, opposite to the Christian cemetery.
The memorial was built by the authorities approximately in 2006.

Here are the pictures taken by the team at the 2 sites.
The team with the head of the village:

The memorial at the school – that’s where the court and the prison were.

The Jewish Cemetery

Stanivtsi – Stanestie pe Ceremus Unter /de Jos – by Irving Osterer – July 2016

The visit of the World Organization of Bukovina Jews to Stanesti de Jos in July 2016 motivated Mr. Irving Osterer from Ottawa, Canada to add additional relevant information about this heritage site.

First – here is a presentation about Stanesti. To see a short Stanesti de jos presentation that Irv created, please click on this link.
stanestie

Additional information about Stanesti will be posted separately by Carol Elias. She has visited Stanesti twice, and recently was able to find the melon farm in Transnistria where her family was sent after the July 1941 pogrom.

This post includes information from Madeleine Kahn, that has given her permission to publish the photos from her book – The credit for the photo is to her. THANKS!!

Her description of the town really gives you an idea of what life was like for Jewish people in the village.

She returned to Stanesti and Basilic is the book she wrote about her experience. She was told that the woman that abandonned her was no longer living in Stanesti. All the others that have been there, say that the locals seem unaware of the Jewish presence. There are no archives or photos to tell the story either.

Basilic written by Madeleine Kahn (Atlantica, Biarritz, 2011 ISBN : 978-2-7588-0399-7)

This photo, documenting one of the massacre locations in Stanesti de Jos, appears on page 148 of her book.

The author’s story is an amazing one. Madeleine Wolloch was born in France, the daughter of a Polish Jewish father and a Romanian Jewish mother. She spent summers with her grandmother in Stanesti de jos. Her vivid description of the town really gives one an idea of what life was like for Jewish people in the village.

She was only six years old when she was separated from her parents at the outbreak of World War 2 in 1939 and was a witness to the massacre of Stanestie’s Jewish men in July 1941. When it appeared that even the women and children were not to be spared, her grandmother appealed to her Ukrainian housekeeper to shelter her grandaughter. The housekeeper gave Madeleine refuge for one night, but the following day took her to the middle of a forest and left her there, alone. It is hard to imagine such cruelty. Madeleine spent a few nights alone in the forest before a sympathetic Romanian soldier found her and reunited her with her grandmother, her aunt and infant son. Many of the Jews in North Bukovina that survived the pogroms made their way to the Czernowitz ghetto only to be herded further east to labour camps in Transnistria. Her beloved grandmother perished there, but Madeleine’s French passport was her salvation and though very ill with typhus, she was placed in a convent and cared for by the nuns through the intervention of the French diplomatic corps in Galatz. After the war Madeleine returned to France, married and had a distinguished career as an academic with the Sorbonne.

She returned to Stanesti when the fall of communism made travel to the Ukraine possible with a French legation. Basilic is the book she wrote about her experience. Particularly poignant was a meeting she had with town officials in Nizhniye Stanovtsy. The Mayor of the town told her that no Jews were harmed there during the war. She was not shy about setting the record straight and even made an attempt to visit her grandmother’s house. She was told that the woman that abandoned her was no longer living in the area.

Mme. Kahn says that an English translation of her book is in the works. She now resides in Israel.