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ORHEI JEWISH CEMETERY

The cemetery book that was found in the Synagogue was constructed in 1978.  It has been maintained since then although there seems to be some missing entries in the early 1980's.  Whether it was based upon earlier records or was done by walking the graveyard (or a combination of both) is unknown.  The dates in the book range from 1893-2007.  About 600 entries that have no dates and where they fall within that range or are from an earlier time period is unknown.  Also, about 700 entries have only given name and patronymic (no surname).

All of the names in the book have been translated from Russian Script to English.  My thanks to Leslie Oberman from Australia and Claire Stuart from the United States who helped translate all of these names.  In addition, over 300 pictures from the cemetery showed readable gravestones.  I translated all of these and added the information to the cemetery book entries – with the help of Yocheved Klausner from Israel.  Most of the gravestones were of people who were listed in the cemetery book, but some from the earlier years were not listed.  I found gravestones going back to 1820 and many others that were unreadable or destroyed/decaying.  There is no doubt that many of the gravestones in the cemetery date from the early 1800’s and probably from the 1700’s.  Many of the stones are in piles and many others are tilted or broken.  None of this is believed to be due to vandalism.  Much of the damage is attributed to three earthquakes in the area between about 1945 and 1980.

Over 3400 names from this cemetery have been added to JOWBR.  You can query this cemetery by going to JOWBR - however it is highly recommended that you read the information under “Contents of the Database” for this cemetery before doing any searches.  The gravestone pictures have not been put onto JOWBR for several reasons.  However, if I have a gravestone picture I have put the words “Gravestone picture available” in the Comments.  If you would like a gravestone picture of one of your family’s stones I will be glad to send it to you.  You can contact me at Shtetl Coordinator.  If the words “Gravestone picture available” are not in the comments, please do not ask for a picture because I do not have one.

The JOWBR listing for this cemetery also includes about 200 names that are on several Holocaust memorials located in the cemetery.  Although these people are not buried in the cemetery I have included them in the JOWBR entries because the Memorials are in the cemetery.  I have indicated on each of these entries that the name is from the Memorial and the person is not buried in the cemetery.  I also have pictures of each of these memorials and more information about them is found in the Holocaust Memorial Section.

Cemetery Entrance
Inside Cemetery Entrance
Main Entrance of the Jewish Cemetery
Inside the Main Entrance of the Jewish Cemetery

I have posted a number of pictures from this cemetery for your viewing.  I have tried to arrange them in logical groupings.
Orhei (Orgeev), 2005
Courtesy of Stiftung Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas, Germany (click on photo to enlarge)
Here lie the Unknown citizens
killed by the Nazis in 1941.

Orhei (Orgeev), 2010
Courtesy of Simon Geissbühler, Switzerland (click on photo to enlarge)


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