Jewish sources in the Soviet Union report that a systematic demolition of tombstones at the Jewish cemetery in Kishinev has been taking place during the last few months. The tombstones are being removed by municipal workers who are clearing the area for building sites. Among the tombstones demolished were some of the victims of the Kishinev pogrom in 1903 and also of martyrs of the Holocaust. The Jewish cemetery is badly neglected. Tombstones still standing are defaced by anti-Semitic slogans.
A group of Kishinev Jews has written to the mayor, demanding that the desecration of the Jewish cemetery cease, and asking to clean the place up. Twenty-one signatures were appended to this letter, most of them those of Jewish activists but also a few belonging to ordinary, hitherto inarticulate local Jews.
At the beginning of last January, the local authorities in Tashkent began the demolition of the synagogue. Protests by local Jews caused a break in the demolition work. But this week, the municipal workers returned and began to dismantle the walls. It was stated officially that the site was wanted for a housing estate. The local Jews collected money to buy an ordinary house and convert it into a house of prayer, but so far no vendor has agreed to sell them a house for this purpose.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
