[Cz-L] Area of cemetery cleared by hired workers, future plans and other concerns.

One of my aims in going to Chernivtsi, was to measure the size of the area
cleared by the workers hired by Dr. Bursuk through the cemetery
administration and to check on the quality of the work they did.
I knew that the area they cleared was not the area I had asked them to clear
and therefore wanted to see the situation for myself.

In previous letters to the list I sometimes claimed that the area cleared by
the SVIT Ukraine volunteers last year, was area #32. I was wrong in this.
Areas #32 and #29 are generally kept clear by the cemetery administration.
The area cleared by the volunteers in 2008 was the southern half of area #33
and possibly area #30. Please look at the satellite map on the "ehpes"
website. You will notice that slightly less than half of area 33 is cleared.
The workers hired by Dr. Bursuk cleared the remainder of area #33and a strip
of land to the north, the whole area measuring 52.5m wide and about 190m
long. 52.5 X 190 = 9975 square meter, which is just slightly less than one
hectare.

In the area they cleared, they cut all the saplings and they cut them as low
as possible. The photographs Edgar Hauster took in June show this better
than the photographs I took. Where they had to cut saplings which grew very
close to gravestones, they did not damage the stones.
The cemetery administration has been permitted to use a mix of herbicides
and they intend to do so, on a regular basis. I have the Ukrainian names of
these herbicides, but have as yet not had time to research their
effectiveness. From what I could see, they were certainly effective in the
short term.

I talked to both Dr. Bursuk and to Anzhela Nikolaeva about continuing this
work and was advised that they could hire people to clear another hectare or
two in the fall, probably in October and November.

Sasha Wolloch, Wolfi Schaechter and I, expect to have a not for profit
organization with proper bylaws and a bank account established in the next
few weeks and I hope that at that time members of this list will be willing
to join this organization and to donate money toward continuing the work
of clearing the cemetery of sapling trees and climbing vines.

I talked to a number of people in Chernivtsi about the possibility of hiring
an independent contractor to do the clearing work. Unfortunately, no one
could advise me on how to find such a contractor.

I also met with the mayor, Mr. M. Fedoruk and asked for his help in
restoring and maintaining the cemetery. He told me that currently the Jewish
cemetery is a protected area under city law, but that he would try to obtain
for it the status of a nationally protected monument. Then he may get money
for its restoration and maintenance from the government. He also seemed to
be willing to make sure that better care is taken of the areas already
cleared.

I am fairly certain that both ASF and SVIT Ukraine will have additional
work-camps to clear the cemetery, in 2010. ASF will have experts in righting
and erecting gravestones among next year's volunteers.

Mimi
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Received on 2009-08-26 17:09:59