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Jewish cemetery in the village of Murafa, Vinnytsia region, Ukraine


A photo catalog of the burials of this cemetery is available at the link 

Murafa is a settlement in the Shargorod district of the Vinnitsa region of Ukraine, where Jews have lived since the 17th century. Back in the 1920s, about two thousand Jews lived here. In the post-war years, there was almost no Jewish population in the village.

In the village, a Jewish cemetery has been preserved with a fragment of an 18th century tombstone and the remains of a stone wall that once fenced off the territory of the cemetery. The cemetery is located on the opposite bank of the Klekotina River from the village.

The cemetery is cataloged. About 796 burials are included in the electronic register. Of these, 367 have survived only partially. They completely or partially lack anthroponomical data, as well as the dates of burial and death. Another 429 burials have survived with the names of the deceased. On 25% of them, it is impossible to read historical data.

On the surviving burials, anthroponomical data are indicated in full or in abbreviated form, indicating one or two initials. For example, A. Grobmon (buried in 1931) and B. M. Groisman (no historical data).

The catalog contains several burials dating back to the end of the 19th century. These are the graves of Shmuel Itskovich in 1897 (burial year), Moshe Iosifovich (buried in 1897), Sara Davidovna (buried in 1898), Sara Gdalevna and Miriam Toiba Asherovna (both buried in 1899). The latest burial is dated 2016. It belongs to Gilshtein Moshe Shmulevich (1932-2016).

Several burials stand out from the total number. So, the monument on the grave of Gorin Naum (chronological data has not been preserved) was made not in the form of a slab, but in the form of a tree trunk. There is a family burial with one slab for two: Tsirulnik M.A. (1902-1984), Tsirulnik S.Kh. (1904-1987). On the monument to Shimon Naumovich (1879-1961), anthroponomical data are partially preserved, but there is an indication of the profession. “Doctor” is written on the monument in front of the name.

Noteworthy is the burial of Bela Pecherskaya in 1926. The dates of life are preserved on the grave: she was born on May 20, 1926, and died on December 2, 1926. Also on the tombstone, there is an epitaph: “To the unforgettable, sweet little Squirrel. Peace be upon yours. Father, mother and sister Pechersky. "

There is also an epitaph on the grave of Peterburgskaya Sonya Shlemovna (1908-1986). It says, "From brothers and sisters." Remains of epitaphs have been preserved in a number of other burials.