Of all ESJF’s projects to date, this turned out to be the most technically complex, largely due to the hilly terrain and the river that borders the site.
The original wall, constructed in 1997, began to fall apart soon after it was built. Now, the centuries-old cemetery, dating back to the 1580s, is surrounded by a newly installed secure fence.
At the time, in 1880, Jews made up 56% of the population of Skala-Podilska in the Ternopil region — 3,449 people. In the decades that followed, the Jewish community gradually declined in size. During the Hungarian and Nazi occupations, the local Jewish population was deported to the Janowska transit camp, the Belzec death camp, and the Borshchiv ghetto.
Only about 150 Jews from Skala-Podilska survived the Shoah. Today, their descendants continue to honor the memory of their ancestors and the places where they are buried.
The fencing of the Skala-Podilska Jewish cemetery was made possible thanks to a generous donation from Tony Hausner and the Skala Research Group. We also extend our gratitude to the Auswärtiges Amt (German Federal Foreign Office), for their ongoing financial support of our work.