Lviv Oblast Renovates Oldest Jewish Cemetery and Opens Two Memorials
The renovated Jewish cemetery from the sixteenth century in Stary Sambir is located on the slope of a hill. The cemetery is the resting place of prominent representatives of the local Jewish community. In the days of the Soviet Union, the authorities sent a bulldozer that razed the cemetery to the ground. As years went by, no one even thought about rebuilding the cemetery, except for one man, Jack Gardner, a native of Stary Sambir. Born in 1914, he graduated from a Jewish religious school and later from a commercial one. When World War II broke out he joined the Polish Army. Following the defeat of Poland, he became an accountant in the consumer cooperative society. After Germany attacked the Soviet Union in 1941, he was drafted into the Soviet Army and seriously wounded in fighting near Luhansk. After demobilization, he worked in Tashkent where he met his future wife. When the war ended he returned to Stary Sambir but his home had been destroyed and his large family had been deported to the Sambir ghetto and killed. Overwhelmed by grief, he and his wife went through all of Europe to escape to the West, ending finally in a camp for displaced persons. This opened to them the way to the United States.
Although Jack Gardner left Ukraine for good, he never stopped thinking of his native land. For half a century he wrote letters to the Soviet authorities, requesting but one thing, to reconstruct the cemetery. But his letters fell on deaf ears. Only after Ukraine gained its independence could Jack Gardner achieve his cherished dream.
On recommendations from the Ukrainian Embassy in Canada (Gardner lives in Victoria, British Columbia) he initiated a joint project with the Ukraine- Israel Association, donating money to rebuild the cemetery. With just 150 surviving gravestones, 900 more were recovered and renovated in the course of the project. The Jewish cemetery in Stary Sambir is one of the oldest in Ukraine with many renovated monuments dating back two or three centuries ago. Now the cemetery has been included in the list of fifteen most distinguished centers and museums of Judaica from Ukraine to Australia.
The inauguration of the new cemetery was attended by residents of Stary Sambir and guests from the USA, Poland, and Ukraine’s other regions. With the ceremony over, those present boarded busses that took them to Ralivka.
A road sign, Jewish Memorial, pointed to the forest. A narrow road winding among blocks of concrete took them to the place where the Nazis massacred about 10,000 Jews in 1942. The construction of this memorial was complicated by the fact that, under Jewish tradition, the bones of the deceased cannot be touched, otherwise their souls will never rise to heaven. But there was a common grave nearby, so no reburial actually took place. Jack Gardner could not hold back his tears when the memorial was opened. How could one, with children speaking the words of gratitude to a man who completed a very important mission which future generations will also find in need.
