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Jewish cemetery in Novograd-Volynskiy, Ukraine

Novograd-Volynskiy (Zvyagel until the 18th century) is a city in the Zhytomyr region of Ukraine, where Jews at the end of the 18th century accounted for more than 70% of the population, and until the beginning of the 20th century, their share in the population fluctuated within 50%.

The first mentions of the Zvyagel Jews date back to the 15th century. However, their number in the population was insignificant, and there was no cemetery. Researchers suggest that the dead were taken to be buried in the nearest settlement, where there was a Jewish cemetery.

The exact date of the foundation of the Old Jewish Cemetery is unknown, but it is indicated on the city plan from 1798. The cemetery was located in the southeastern part of the city and went out to the Sluch River. On three sides, it bordered on private land holdings. Researchers suggest that the cemetery has existed since the middle of the 18th century. The preserved tombstone with an illegible epitaph evidences this.

According to the recollections of old residents, there was an iron gate at the entrance to the cemetery. Immediately behind them was the tomb of the first tzaddik from the local Zvyagel dynasty, Moshe Goldman. The tomb was built of red brick. Two lions were depicted on its door, and in the middle was a tombstone in the form of a coffin lid. The tomb was the place where the Hasidim prayed. In the late 1940s - early 1950s, the tomb was located in the area of ​​a residential building. In 2004, the heirs of the tzaddik from Israel erected a monument, and in 2011 a new tomb.

By the end of the 19th century, there was no more space in the Old Cemetery, and there was no opportunity to expand it, since there were private landholdings nearby. Therefore, the authorities allocated a place for the community on the western outskirts of the city. No documentary evidence of the decision has survived, but researchers suggest that the New Jewish Cemetery was founded around 1850. The oldest burial on it dates back to 1855.

One could get to the New Jewish Cemetery from the west through the gate along Korostenskaya Street or through the eastern gate along Yunosheva Street. In the western part of the cemetery, there are burials from 1855-1941. There, according to the recollections of the old residents, was a gatehouse, where Jews were brought from nearby settlements, which did not have a Jewish cemetery.

The New Jewish Cemetery contains the tombs of the Goldman dynasty tzaddiks.

Since 2005, a systematic study of the cemetery began. At the same time, the burial place of the writer Mordechai Zeev Feidberg, who died in 1899, was found.