Joseph Zissels
During the Nazi Invasion of Bukovina , 600 Jews were slaughtered in Chernivtsi and after , burried there , at the Brothers Magila ( Братска Могила ) .
There were many monuments ruined at the Chernivtsi Jewish cemetery during the last two months .
Indeed , in 1991 , a crook named Joseph Zissels ( * ) got a very important amount of money from the USA to clean the Jewish cimetary , but what he did was to hire a group of unexperienced people for a very cheap price and they cut the trees with a chainsaw , the trunks fall down on the tombs and the monuments who have therefore being crushed and destroyed !
In 2009 and 2010 , vandalism was caused by the fact that the municipality decided - again - to cut the trees and to throw then down on the monuments . This was ordered by the local authorities . Such cases did repeat themselves a year ago , and many monuments were destroyed in the Jewish cemetery , again by cutting the trees .
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| Entrance of the old Cemetary |
The Jewish cemetary of Chernivtsi ( Chernowitz ) is a very old and beautiful important place and this is a living book of the history of Jews in Bukovina and a very important place for memories . There are the Jews Soldiers killed during the First World War .
During the Nazi Invasion of Bukovina , 600 Jews were slaughtered in Chernivtsi and after , burried there , at the Brothers Magila ( Братска Могила ) .
There were many monuments ruined at the Chernivtsi Jewish cemetery during the last two months .
Indeed , in 1991 , a crook named Joseph Zissels ( * ) got a very important amount of money from the USA to clean the Jewish cimetary , but what he did was to hire a group of unexperienced people for a very cheap price and they cut the trees with a chainsaw , the trunks fall down on the tombs and the monuments who have therefore being crushed and destroyed !
I wrote to the local newspapers , and on 9/05/1991 , 180 Jewish persons , gathered in the Jewish Cemetary signed my petition to stop this acts of vandalism and I went to the office of the president of Ukraine in Kiev with all data and files in order to complain about these criminals acts .
Police arrested the manager of the group of people who cutted the trees , This man paid the police and he was soon freed of any charge against him .
I went to Israel after this facts , because these people threatened to kill me .
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| Acts of Vandalism |
In 1994 , there were also such cases and again many monuments were destroyed .
For some times , the local authorities ceased cutting trees , but some times after they restarted . They were doing it under the pretext of "cleaning the territory" of the cemetery .But these were vandalist actions that they had done . Indeed , many monuments were damaged and destroyed , from the entrance of the cemetery to the right area , there are tombs of former influential Jewish people from Chernivtsi at the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire .
Every years , for more than 20 years , many vandalism actions are being done , some tombs are being opened by criminals , there are many acts of desecration of graves . The skeleton of dead jewishes are being desecrated by people who try to stole gold tooth !!! Nobody moves , the police does not take actions nor wish to investigate against the authors of such crimes ! ( While In Europe , for example , these crimes are severely punished ) .
Every years , for more than 20 years , many vandalism actions are being done , some tombs are being opened by criminals , there are many acts of desecration of graves . The skeleton of dead jewishes are being desecrated by people who try to stole gold tooth !!! Nobody moves , the police does not take actions nor wish to investigate against the authors of such crimes ! ( While In Europe , for example , these crimes are severely punished ) .
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| Desecration |
Many Jewish Poets , Writers , Lawyers , Rabbis , Doctors , Mayors , Scientist , Professors , ... are buried there . For example : the Yiddish poet and author Eliezer Steinbarg , the politicians and public activists Josef Steiner and Saul Leib Steinmetz , the prominent public activist and leader of the Jewish community Benno Straucher, the head of the Chernivtsi chamber of lawyers and renown politician Max Fokschaner; as well as philanthropists Anna and Markus Kislinger; politician and deputy of Austrian parliament David Tittinger , ...
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There are also currently many poets , journalists , parliament members of Israel that come from Chernivtsi ( where they were born ) . There are many Jewish people that come from Chenivtsi in the USA , in Canada , in Great Britain .
We ask to cease the vandalism actions and to punish those who are guilty .
Baruch Fichman
Degradations in the Chernivtsi Jewish Cemetary , pictures .
here are proofs and pictures of the acts of vandalism performed against the Jewish cemetary in Chernivtsi .
( * ) This scandalous person is unfortunatly Jew - he is the president of Ukraine's Jewish umbrella group, the Vaad . This man is appointed by the authorities to make people believe that Antisemitism does not exist in Ukraine !
N.B 4/7/2011 : It has to be noticed that groups of youngs volunteers from all over the world ( U.S.A , Germany , Holland ... ) have cleaned and restored ( as they could ) the tombs in 2007 and 2009 . Many photos we took were anterior to this date . First , it is clear that the young volunteers were not aware that the situation of the Cemetery was due to repeated acts of anti-Semitic degradations. Second, it was a manipulation from the Ukrainian authorities in order to cover up the proofs of these scandalous and outrageous degradations .They asked these young people to restore the destroyed tombs in order to make people believe that the Jews were not taking care of their cemetery but that, on the opposite, the Ukrainians were calling volunteers to restore this cemetary! (This is a strategy that proceeds by confusion). These degradations may repeat again and again until actions are taken against the criminals who perform these acts of vandalisms . Nevertheless, despite the restorations, many tombs have disappeared and it is not the same cemetery that it was before. The photos we have taken prove what Anti-Semitism in Ukraine is really.
Degradations in the Chernivtsi Jewish Cemetary , pictures .
here are proofs and pictures of the acts of vandalism performed against the Jewish cemetary in Chernivtsi .
( * ) This scandalous person is unfortunatly Jew - he is the president of Ukraine's Jewish umbrella group, the Vaad . This man is appointed by the authorities to make people believe that Antisemitism does not exist in Ukraine !
N.B 4/7/2011 : It has to be noticed that groups of youngs volunteers from all over the world ( U.S.A , Germany , Holland ... ) have cleaned and restored ( as they could ) the tombs in 2007 and 2009 . Many photos we took were anterior to this date . First , it is clear that the young volunteers were not aware that the situation of the Cemetery was due to repeated acts of anti-Semitic degradations. Second, it was a manipulation from the Ukrainian authorities in order to cover up the proofs of these scandalous and outrageous degradations .They asked these young people to restore the destroyed tombs in order to make people believe that the Jews were not taking care of their cemetery but that, on the opposite, the Ukrainians were calling volunteers to restore this cemetary! (This is a strategy that proceeds by confusion). These degradations may repeat again and again until actions are taken against the criminals who perform these acts of vandalisms . Nevertheless, despite the restorations, many tombs have disappeared and it is not the same cemetery that it was before. The photos we have taken prove what Anti-Semitism in Ukraine is really.
