Space For Peace | News | "Mirror of history - preserve Jewish cemetery in Chernivtsi"

In August 2009, for the second time a group of international SCI volunteers will go to Chernivtsi to work in the historic Jewish cemetery, one of the biggest preserved historic cemeteries in Central and Eastern Europe.

This year, continuing the work, they plan to look at it more globally – what and how should be done to preserve it better – future steps and activities, and what are the possibilities to contribute to protecting the historic and cultural heritage through volunteer projects in this case, as well as in general.

The project is organized by Svit Ukraine in cooperation with Chernivtsi City Council, with financial support from the “Memoria” program, realized jointly by The Foundation for Remembrance, Responsibility and the Future and Stefan Batory Foundation.

The main aim of the program is to interest young people from Central and Eastern Europe to work together for the conservation of the European cultural heritage.

The project is prepared with support of the Jewish Diaspora of Czernowitz, SCI-Germany and local activists and NGOs.

Chernovtsy (Ukrainian Chernivtsy, German Czernowitz) is considered to be the cultural capital of Western Ukraine.

The city has a rich history, architecture and cultural background (in different periods it was part of the Turkish Empire, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire and Romania. It is called “little Vienna” or “European Alexandria” because of its rich cultural and historic background and multi-national community. According to the population census in 2001, 65 different nationalities are living in the city, which has a total population of about 250 000 residents.

One of the biggest ethnic groups is Jewish, and before the 2nd World War, this minority was playing an important part in the life of the city. One of the traces they left is a cemetery of the 19th and first half of the 20th century, which has many tomb stones made by famous artists.

During the 2nd World War the Jewish population suffered terrible losses. Those who survived the war mostly emigrated.

All this creates a special background for the project, as well as reach opportunities for its study part.