Obj. ID: 40091
Jewish Funerary Art Jewish cemetery in Plovdiv, Bulgaria
The report "Jewish Historic Monuments and Sites in Bulgaria" published by The United States Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad in 2011 states the following:
The present Jewish cemetery forms a section of the municipal cemetery. It was created no later than 1878, as is indicated by the graves of Jews who participated in the Russian army and died in the battles for the liberation of Bulgaria. The neighboring cemetery sections are for Christians and Turkish Muslims. Lack of free plots in the Christian section has put pressure on the Jewish cemetery, as Christian families sometimes demand space to bury their relatives in the Jewish section and are granted permission to do so. The cemetery is surrounded by a stone wall to the north and a wall of concrete panels to the northwest. The wall of concrete panels and a part of the stone wall were built several years ago with funds raised in a charity campaign. The wall, more than two meters high, separates the Jewish cemetery from the Roma families who live in the park with their domestic animals. There is no wall or fence on the side of the Christian cemetery. The present size of the cemetery is 1.47 hectares and it contains approximately 2,600 gravestones. The boundaries have shrunken slightly over the years as a result of illegal settlements of Gypsy families, the expropriation of approximately 0.5 hectares in 1938 when the architectural plan of the town was changed, and an enlargement of the overall cemetery, which reduced the size of the Jewish section by one hectare. Between 1970 and 1990, it was thought that the Jewish and Turkish cemeteries at the Central Cemetery Park were going to be closed down due to architectural reasons, so during that period, Jews were buried in other cemeteries. Most were in a cemetery on Rogozhko Chosse Street. Nearly all graves and gravestones in the Plovdiv Jewish cemetery are in their original locations. The Jews who died in the struggle against fascism are an exception, as their remains were moved to the Plovdiv Common Grave which was established to memorialize all of the victims of the anti-fascist struggle. About 200 gravestones have been destroyed or stolen but there have never been acts of anti-Semitic vandalism in the cemetery.
Vegetation overgrowth in the cemetery is a serious problem. Access to some graves is hindered in summer and early autumn and some graves are damaged as a result. The oldest gravestones probably date from the time of Bulgaria’s liberation of 1878. They are made of granite and marble and engraved in Bulgarian and Hebrew. The Plovdiv Jewish cemetery is owned by the Plovdiv municipality and is managed by the Funeral Activities Municipal Company. For several years, Shalom, Plovdiv, and the Funeral Activities Municipal Company have been making efforts to cope with the vegetation overgrowth problem by cutting wild trees and bushes and treating the territory of the cemetery with herbicides. Also, the local Jewish community raised money from its members and erected a high panel wall which separated the cemetery from the Roma families living nearby. The whole cemetery park is locked at night and the watchmen of the Funeral Activities Municipal Company are in charge of the keys. Management of all cemeteries in the town is conducted by the Funeral Activities Municipal Company, located at Knyaginya Maria Louisa Blvd, Plovdiv, 73.
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