Monument for Krakes Jewish Cemetery near entrance

Regina Kopilevich studying tombstone

The following inscriptions were taken in the Krakes Jewish Cemetery by Chaim Bargman in September 1997 and by Regina Kopilevich in July 1996 and September 1999. They were transcribed by Ada Green. Only a handful of these tombstones contain surnames, in particular for those deaths that occurred between the two World Wars. At least half of the other surnames were able to be determined from Krakes death records at the Lithuanian State Historic Archives in Vilnius by comparing the Hebrew name and date on the tombstone with that in the death record. For purposes of identification, the surnames have been added to the information below in these cases. For deaths that occurred between 1922 and 1939, Ada Green was able to add additional information such as names of parents and age from the death registers of the Krakes rabbinate at the Lithuanian State Historical Archives. For unknown reason, there are a number of discrepancies between the date of death on the tombstone and the date of death in the metrical records, which has been noted in the comments column. Tombstone photographs accompany 14 of the deceased, all taken by Ada Green with the exception of Rochel Neche Mervis, which was taken by her descendant, Jonathan Mervis of London. The Krakes Jewish Cemetery is heavily overgrown with weeds. Many of the tombstones have fallen (some were face down) or are sinking into the ground, which required someone with a shovel to upright them or to dig away enough earth that the names and dates could be identified.