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Jewish cemetery in Novograd-Volynskyi

In the western part of the city of Novograd-Volynskyi there is an old Jewish cemetery. It is impossible to establish the exact date of the foundation of this burial ground, but relying on some information and the fact that it is located near the Kiev-Brest highway, it can be said that the date of the founding of the cemetery is approximately 1850. In addition, this is also evidenced by the epitaph on the gravestone of the oldest burial (1855).

The Jews call this cemetery "bey-ailm", which in Yiddish translates to "the abode of peace." The entrance to the necropolis lies from the west through a gate with a wicket (Korostenskaya street) or from the east (Yunosheva street). In 2003, a small bridge was brought to the cemetery, through which the Hasidim pilgrims come to this day. This path is the shortest and leads to the burials of the tzaddik Zvyagel (so until 1795 Novograd-Volynskyi was named).

In the western part of the cemetery burials date from 1855-1941. It was here the bodies of dead Jews were brought from other villages during the war. Currently, more than 1300 graves have been identified in this part of the cemetery, about 400 of them with clearly visible epitaphs. There are still unexplored areas in the south-western part of the cemetery. On most burial grounds there were only graves or the ground part of the stele without inscriptions. That is why it is impossible to recognize who owns the graves.

Old graves have the shape of a boot. Traditionally precisely such tombstones were made until 1971. Slabs were laid horizontally and decorated with an epitaph in Hebrew or Yiddish. A large number of inscriptions tells about where exactly the man was from. Many burials have images of lions, plant ornaments, menorah, blessing hands and magen-david.

Nowadays, the old part of the Jewish cemetery begins to acquire a well-groomed appearance. Volunteers periodically clean up the territory and renew the time-worn gravestones and monuments. However, before the full restoration of the memory of the Jewish ancestors, there is still a lot of work.