There were two Jewish cemeteries in Ananiev. The upper one pictured here contains mostly Soviet-era families with birth and death dates ranging from 1884-1999.

The lower cemetery is no more. In its place is a department of transportation, built around 2001. The Jewish community members who would speak of it said that they conserved as many gravestones as they could haul up the grassy hill to the modern cemetery. I saw no signs of any and did not pursue the matter because it seemed a moot point. Stam. The grave markers are gone; the early cemetery does not exist.  After all, we had only just appeared now in 2005. Why hadn’t we come sooner? they asked. I said Kaddish at the edge of the cinderblock transportation building lined with trees and worked to leave my frustrations behind.  Sigh.

Photographs of the picnic are a click away. See Ananiev Photo Album above.