- December 12, 2025
- 3:47 pm
- Ukraine
Thousands of forgotten Jewish cemeteries are scattered across Ukraine — from Lviv to Odessa, from Podolia to Transcarpathia. On their matzevot — ancient tombstones with inscriptions in Hebrew — one can still read the names of rabbis, craftsmen, women, and children whose lives ended in the last century. These stones are the last witnesses of an entire world that disappeared in the whirlwind of history.
Today, this world is beginning to be restored: researchers, students, volunteers, international funds. Ukraine is gradually reclaiming its Jewish memory — cleaning matzevot, erecting fences, deciphering inscriptions, learning to read the language of stone.
The impetus for a new wave of attention was an event in the Khmelnytskyi region — a seminar of the European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative (ESJF), held on October 21, 2025, at the Jewish cemetery in the town of Horodok. This is where our story begins about how history, which cannot be erased, is being revived.
Unique Seminar in Horodok
On October 21, 2025, in the town of Horodok, Khmelnytskyi region, a unique seminar was held on the territory of the local Jewish cemetery. The organizer was the European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative (ESJF) — European Initiative for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries, with the support of the German Foreign Ministry.
The event was conducted by researcher Yevhen Levinzon, a well-known specialist in Jewish epigraphy.
The seminar was attended by museum staff, local historians, students of the International Certification Program in Judaica, journalists, and local residents. They studied the inscriptions on matzevot — stone tombstones that tell the stories of people who lived here three hundred or more years ago.
Horodok became a symbol of a new wave of interest in Ukraine’s Jewish heritage. Here, as in many towns of Podolia, there was a large Jewish community before the war, founded back in the 17th century. According to Yad Vashem, in 1939, more than 2,500 Jews lived in Horodok — almost a third of the population. After the Holocaust, the community disappeared, and the cemetery remained the only witness to this history.
The seminar was accompanied by presentations of ESJF projects, including the International Jewish Cemetery Research Competition, which takes place in the fall of 2025. The organization reminded that in 2024, a new protective fence was installed here in Horodok, funded by Germany as part of a pan-European program for the preservation of Jewish necropolises.
The Scale of Jewish Cemeteries in Ukraine
Modern research records from 1,000 to 1,500 Jewish cemeteries and mass burial sites in Ukraine.
- According to ESJF, by 2024, 4,140 Jewish cemeteries were surveyed in just 10 Eastern European countries, about 1,500 of which are in Ukraine.
- The Jewish Heritage Guide confirms: in Lviv, Ternopil, and Ivano-Frankivsk regions alone — over 500 sites.
- As early as 2005, the “Lo Tishkach” report recorded 731 cemeteries and 495 mass burial sites.
The highest concentration is in the western regions: Galicia, Volhynia, Podolia, Bukovina, Transcarpathia.
In the central and eastern regions (Poltava, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk), large urban necropolises of the 19th–20th centuries have been preserved.
The Largest Jewish Necropolises in Ukraine
Chernivtsi — one of the largest cemeteries in Eastern Europe (area 14 ha, about 50,000 burials). Founded in 1866, it is still in operation and has been state-protected since 1995. Here rest rabbis, professors of Chernivtsi University, poets, and public figures of Bukovina.
Lviv — New Jewish necropolis on Zolochivska Street (founded in 1855). Despite the destruction of World War II and the Soviet period, some tombstones — especially from the 18th–19th centuries — have been preserved.
Kyiv — Lukyanivka Jewish Cemetery, opened in 1866. There are memorial sections dedicated to Babi Yar. Many burials have been studied as part of the “Jewish Memory Map” project.
Odessa — New Jewish Cemetery, founded in 1885, became the largest in the south of the country. Here are the graves of Rabbi Yakov Leibovich, actor Beni Krik, the Schwartzman and Brodsky families.
Drohobych — 18th–19th-century cemetery, where matzevot with rare baroque motifs and inscriptions in Hebrew and German were discovered. Some monuments were restored with the support of ESJF and volunteers from Poland and Israel.
Horodok (Khmelnytskyi region) — the cemetery is known for its unique 17th–19th-century tombstones made of Podolian limestone. Symbols of Kohanim (hands in blessing), Levites (pitchers), carved images of birds, and wreaths are found here. In 2024, ESJF installed a metal fence and an information stand with a QR code leading to a map of the cemetery. Today, Horodok is considered a training ground for students of the Judaica program and local historians of Podolia.
Matzeva: The Language of Stone and Codes of Memory
Matzeva (Heb. מצבה) — a traditional Jewish tombstone, a “stone of memory,” installed on a grave shortly after burial.
Materials and Forms
- limestone, sandstone, less often granite or marble;
- usually a vertical rectangular slab, sometimes with an arch or rounded top;
- height — from 60 cm to 1.5 m; in the 18th century, Galician matzevot could be carved in the form of a portal or gate.
Language and Inscriptions
- inscriptions — in Hebrew, Aramaic, later German, Polish, Russian;
- the first lines — the abbreviation פ״נ (“Here lies”);
- the concluding formula — תהא נשמתו צרורה בצרור החיים (“May his soul be bound in the bundle of life”).
Symbolism
Each drawing is a metaphor for the life of the deceased:
- hands in blessing — Kohen;
- pitcher with water — Levite;
- candles — woman;
- lion, deer, bird, tree — allegories of courage, sorrow, or valor.
In Galicia and Podolia, there are complete narrative compositions with animals, musical instruments, and Torah.
Classification
- Archaic (16th–17th centuries) — simple slabs without ornamentation.
- Baroque (18th century) — rich carvings, plant motifs.
- Galician and Podolian (19th century) — clear iconography, family signs.
- Soviet period (20th century) — geometric shapes, sometimes portraits.
History of Studying Matzevot and Jewish Necropolises
Interest in Jewish epigraphy in Ukraine arose as early as the 19th century.
In the 1840s, Rabbi Ber Meir Shik published the first decipherments of inscriptions in Transcarpathia.
At the end of the 19th century, researcher Shimon Dubnov included descriptions of Jewish cemeteries in his “History of the Jewish People in Russia and Poland.”
After the Holocaust, interest in the Soviet Union was almost lost.
Revival began in the 1990s:
- in 1993, the Society for the Protection of Jewish Monuments “Memorial” was established in Kyiv;
- in 1996, the first digital catalog of tombstones of the Brody cemetery appeared;
- since 2015, ESJF has been conducting systematic surveys of Jewish necropolises in Ukraine using drones and 3D models.
Modern academic centers (A. Krymsky Institute of Oriental Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Judaica Center in Kyiv and Lviv) offer courses in epigraphy, archaeology, and field research.
It is the students of these programs who participate in today’s seminars like the one held in Horodok.
International Initiatives and Education
ESJF works in partnership with the European Union, the German Foreign Policy Fund, and Ukrainian museums.
By 2024, the organization built more than 300 fences and registered the coordinates of all Jewish cemeteries in the country in an open database.
The International Interdisciplinary Certification Program in Judaica (Kyiv, A. Krymsky Institute of Oriental Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine) prepares young researchers and teachers to work with Jewish heritage.
The course includes Hebrew, Yiddish, the history of Jews in Ukraine, epigraphy, and museum practice.
The International Jewish Cemetery Research Competition, announced in 2025, accepts submissions until December 1 in nine European countries. Winners will be invited to the Jewish Heritage Festival in Prague in the spring of 2026.
Conclusion
The seminar in Horodok is not a one-time event but part of a large movement to restore Jewish memory in Ukraine. Matzevot, carved in stone in the 18th century, are being read today by young researchers; cemeteries, where oblivion reigned for decades, are becoming open-air museums.
Ukraine is reclaiming the forgotten voice of Jewish heritage — and it is through projects like ESJF and the Horodok seminar that this heritage is gaining a second life.
Sources
JewishNews Ukraine — Seminar in Horodok, 2025
ESJF – European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative
Jewish Heritage Guide – Cemeteries Database
Jewish Heritage Europe – Ukraine Section
International Certification Program in Judaica (Kyiv)
Ukrainian Jewish Encounter – Essay on Cemeteries
Wikipedia – Jewish Cemetery in Chernivtsi
Support from the State of Ukraine and Local Authorities
Ukrainian state policy and local self-government bodies are increasingly involved in the protection of Jewish cemeteries and matzevot — this direction is gradually becoming part of the state memory policy. The issue was first legally established back in 1998 when the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted a decree prohibiting construction and privatization on the territories of former and existing Jewish cemeteries. This document was an important step in protecting necropolises from destruction and commercial development.
The Law of Ukraine “On Burial and Funeral Affairs,” adopted in July 2003, obliged local self-government bodies to survey old burial sites, keep records, and ensure preservation. Cemeteries with historical or cultural value are subject to protection as objects of national heritage.
From 2021 to 2024, more than a hundred memorial steles were installed at Jewish cemeteries in Ukraine, and several hundred more sites received permits for restoration or fence installation.
These initiatives are implemented with the participation of the Ministry of Culture, the Institute of National Memory, local administrations, and international partners. In many cities of western Ukraine — Lviv, Sambir, Berezhany, Brody, Chortkiv — municipalities include Jewish cemeteries in urban improvement programs. Local historians, schoolchildren, volunteers, and representatives of Jewish communities participate in these projects. They clear the territory, install plaques and QR codes, and create routes “in the footsteps of Jewish history.”
Today, we can talk about a gradual transition from individual volunteer actions to a systematic model of interaction between the state, local authorities, and public organizations.
Step by step, Ukraine is creating a foundation for Jewish cemeteries to become not places of oblivion but part of the national memory and respect for the history of all peoples who lived on its land.
