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Jewish Cemetery

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The Jewish cemetery of Chernivtsi is one of the largest in Central and Eastern Europe. It was laid out in 1866 by decision of the city council according to a design by the engineer Relli and differs from many other Jewish cemeteries in its clear design. It replaced the old Chernivtsi Jewish cemetery near the city centre. The cemetery covers an area of 14.2 hectares and comprises 137 plots. The exact number of graves is not known. It is estimated that there are at least 50,000 gravestones.

Jewish Cemetery

Religious buildings & cemeteries

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1866

The cemetery also reflects the development of the Jewish bourgeoisie from the late 19th century. The front part of the cemetery is particularly impressive, with the graves of important city dignitaries. Among the well-known personalities from politics, culture, science and business who are buried here are Elieser Steinbarg, Eduard Reiss, Benno Straucher, Max Fokschaner, Jakob Pistiner, Markus and Anna Kisslinger, David Tittinger, Josef Steiner, Saul Leib Steinmetz, Siegmund Neuberger and Josef Ohrenstein. The cemetery also contains the graves of Rosa Zuckermann and Matthias Zwilling (known from the 1999 documentary film of the same name by Volker Koepp). The cemetery also contains soldiers' graves from the First and Second World Wars and a memorial to the Jews of Chernivtsi who were murdered in Transnistria.

Text: Iryna Virstiuk