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PODOLIA GUBERNIYA:
Town Earliest # Graves Modern burials? Condition
Derazhnia Cemetery 1500 7000 Yes Excellent
Derazhnia Mass Kill 1942 3000   Fair-overgrown, neglected.
Kamenets-Podolski 1500 10000 Yes Fair to good-most cemetery: stones readable but some sections vandalized.
Kamenets-Podolski Killing Site 1942 10000+   Original site covered by apartment block built after WWII; some bones relocated to mass graves within Jewish cemetery (located nearby).
Letichev Mass Killing Site 1942 7500   Fair-monument, vandalized, needs stabilization.
Letichev New Cemetery 1860 1000 Yes Poor, vandalized and overgrown, gravestones overturned but can still be read
Letichev Old Cemetery 1500 500 No Destroyed by a new house built on the site
Medzhib. Mass Killing Site 1942 2000   Excellent
Medzhibozh New Cemetery 1840 5000 Yes Good-neglected, overgrown.
Medzhibozh Old Cemetery 1555 750 No Excellent
Mikhalpol Cemetery 1860 200 No Poor, inscribed parts of gravestones completely removed by vandals
Proskurov Mass Killing Site 1919 10000+   Excellent
Proskurov Cemetery Pre-1900 10000+ Yes Good-I didn't spend much time here.
Shargorod Cemetery 1500 7000 Yes Excellent-divided into sections, oldest part is in a different location than newer parts.
Stari Meidan Cemetery 1845 50 No Poor-vandalized and overgrown, only a few gravestones can be read.
Volkovintsi Cemetery 1950 25 Yes Good. starting to become neglected and overgrown.
Zinkov Cemetery 1500 5000 Yes Poor, vandalized, virtually every stone purposely overturned, but some stones still readable.

NOTES:
     (1) Proskurov is now called Khmelnitsky. Mikhalpol is now called Mikhalovka.
     (2) My estimates of earliest dates where often based on the style of gravestone, not necessarily from observable dates (not always available). The style of the gravestones was quite distinctive within different time periods.
     (3) My above scale is purely subjective. It should be noted that the older cemeteries have significant natural degradation. This is strictly a function of the quality of the stonework, the composition of the stones, and the weathering conditions of the site. For instance, in the old cemetery at Medzhibozh while perhaps only a few hundred stones are visible, you get the impression that every square inch at one time had a stone over it. As you walk, underfoot you can feel stones or portions of them. I feel this is mostly an erosion effect and not an effect of vandalism in this particular cemetery. The surviving stones generally are quite massive with significantly deep carvings. Frost heave over many freeze-thaw cycles has a significant effect on whether the stones remain in their original upright positions. Generally, those gravestones with the upright parts that are firmly connected to a basal foundation tend to stay in their original positions. Others tend to topple over then subsequently get buried by soil and vegetation. It would be interesting and perhaps worthwhile to attempt to restore some of these cemeteries. This would primarily be an exercise in archeology, IMHO.
     (4) Please don't ask me for additional information about any one of these cemeteries. ("Is Uncle Joe Schwartz buried there?"). For the most part, surnames were NOT carved into the stones until burials after WWII. Only in rare occasions does one get a hint as to who the people were or from which families. Two thousand stones that say "X ben/bat Y" unfortunately help no genealogist very much unless more careful work is done and you have additional information. I cannot tell you how many "Moshe ben Yisrael's" I saw. Only on occasion did you get other information. For instances, Cohens or Levys were *sometimes* marked differently. The Rabbis or Tsadiks were often the best marked. Source: David Chapin This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . [date?]
 
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