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Jewish cemetery in Osipovichi

The town of Osipovichi is unlikely to impress with any tourist curiosities or modern infrastructure. This is a simple provincial city, which for all its simplicity conceals a long and not ordinary history.

About 48% of Jews lived here before the war. Local theater, a small bakery, unusual houses, numerous shops, a brass band and many others immediately convince us that for many years Jews occupied a significant place in the life of the town. Today, from all this, there is not much left, and even streets that were previously completely inhabited by Jews, now hardly remind about it.

Of course, there is also an old Jewish cemetery in Osipovichi. Unfortunately, during the war many graves were destroyed, many tombstones were removed by the Nazis, and executions were carried out on its territory. At the same time, there was a ghetto in the city, and the synagogue turned into a prison in which the arrested Jews were held.

There is evidence that the remains of the executed Jews of 1942 were also buried in this cemetery. But, alas, during the reburial no one noticed a new place and now it is not known exactly where the grave is located.

With the passage of time, more and more monuments lose their inscriptions and fall into decay. Therefore, this page of the history of Osipovichi has the risk of being gradually erased. But, thanks to those who continue to take care of the burials, memory still lives here, and will live as long as there are people ready to apply their efforts to this.