Project number: [JOWBR, UKR-03156]

The SHPOLA JEWISH Cemetery in SHPOLA, UKRAINE

The following information regarding the Shpola Jewish Cemetery was based on a survey of the cemetery which was conducted on July 16, 1994, and was obtained from the International Jewish Cemetery Project (see http://www.iajgsjewishcemeteryproject.org/ukraine/shpola.html).

Shpola is located in Chercasskaya at 49º2 31º25, 75 km from Chercassy and 94 km from Uman. The unlandmarked Shpola Jewish cemetery is located at Korneychuka St. 27 A. The Shpoler Zeyda and his sons are buried there, in a small ohel that sits within the limits of the cemetery. The last known Hasidic burial in the cemetery was in 1965. The isolated urban flat land has no sign or marker. Reached by turning directly off a private road, access is open to the public. Occasionally, local residents visit. No wall, fence, or gate surrounds the cemetery. There are less than 100 common tombstones all in original locations, dating from the 19th to 20th century, with about 25-to-50 percent toppled or broken. The cemetery contains no known mass graves. The municipality owns the site used for the Jewish cemetery. The adjacent properties are residential. The cemetery boundaries are smaller now than they were prior to WW-II, due to housing development. The cemetery was vandalized during World War II. There is no maintenance. There is a very serious threat to the cemetery, with uncontrolled access and vandalism. In July of 2010, a former resident of Shpola reported to us that "many Jewish tombstones were taken away from the cemetery and just thrown away. The free land was used then for agriculture." The disposal location of the removed stones is unknown.

The Shpola Jewish Cemetery Project was directed and funded by Dr. Jeffrey Mark Paull, for the purpose of identifying, photographing, and preserving the remaining endangered gravestones from the Shpola Jewish Cemetery. Dr. Paull gratefully acknowledges the contributions of his research associate, Jeffrey Briskman, who helped arrange for the photography of Shpola gravestones, and who provided translations for the Russian gravestone inscriptions; David Goldman, who translated the Hebrew gravestone inscriptions, and Zhenya Sokur, who photographed the Shpola gravestones, in July of 2010.

Overview of cemetery

Another overview of cemetery

Cemetery Entrance

Shpoler Zeydas Ohel