Delyatyn. The Jewish Past: Places of Memory

In every settlement, places of memory testify to how old its community is, when it was founded and how the history of the settlement is preserved. Delyatyn is a large town in the Subcarpathian region, known since 1370, and the first records of Jewish residents are documented in the mid-18th century. They were merchants and owners of mills and sawmills; they healed and taught, provided legal and notarial services, and also practised craft trades. According to the laws of Judaism, a Jewish cemetery is a place of rest for the dead.

Delyatyn, Ivano-Frankivsk region. Jewish cemetery

Tatariv. The Kirkut. A Place of Memory and Sorrow

The history of Tatariv is closely interwoven with the history of the Jewish community of this Carpathian village, whose story reaches back to the 17th century.

 

Tatariv, Ivano-Frankivsk region. The kirkut

Shchyrets. The Kirkut, Heritage of a Galician Town

Before the Second World War, Shchyrets was considered one of the centres of Jewish life in Galicia. The old Jewish cemetery on the eastern edge of the settlement is part of the cultural and historical heritage of a vanished Jewish community.

 

Shchyrets, Lviv region. The Jewish cemetery

Deliatyn. The Jewish Cemetery and Its Chronicle

In Europe, Jewish cemeteries are not merely included in tourist routes — Jewish necropolises are entered on the UNESCO World Heritage lists. In Ukraine, the mass Jewish burial sites are places of remembrance of a particular person, and also of the Jewish people as a whole and the events bound up with it. Kirkuty — as Jewish cemeteries are called in Western Ukraine — are the cultural heritage of their communities and a part of the history of our country. The Deliatyn Jewish necropolis is in the northern part of the town, west of the main road, the H09, on Pohribnych Street.

 

Deliatyn, Ivano-Frankivsk region. The Jewish cemetery

Mykulychyn. The Kirkut, a Neglected Jewish Heritage Site

The Jewish cemetery in Mykulychyn holds a cultural and historical heritage and a landmark place in this village in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. A kirkut — that is what Jewish burial grounds are called in Western Ukraine — lies in the central part of the village, to the east of the main road. A place of memory and mourning for the former Jewish community, on the verge of vanishing. 

Mykulychyn. The kirkut

Nadvirna. The Jewish Necropolis, Off the Tourist Route

Jewish cemeteries in Ukraine are little-studied and almost unknown objects of folk culture that form part of the history of our state. Abroad, such places are popular with tourists and are kept in good condition. A city of the dead is not suitable for a stroll, yet to get an idea of the cultural and historical heritage of the Jewish community in the town of Nadvirna in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, it is enough to visit the north-western sector of the Jewish cemetery.

 

Yasinia. The Kirkut, a Monument of Jewish History

Jewish cemeteries in Ukraine hold historical, cultural and artistic value. According to Jewish traditions and rites, burials are not relocated and are regarded as inviolable. Jewish cemeteries have their own features and distinctions.

Yasinia. The Jewish cemetery (Kirkut)