Odesa Third Jewish Cemetery

Cemetery Information

Country
Ukraine
Region
Odessa
District
Settlement
Odesa
Site address
1 Himichna Street.
GPS coordinates
46.48692, 30.67485
Perimeter length
1,960 metres
Is the cemetery demolished
no
Type and height of existing fence
The cemetery is surrounded by a brick fence of three metres height and guarded.
Preservation condition
Fenced and protected Jewish cemetery
General site condition
The cemetery is well-kept.
Number of existing gravestones
Around 50,000
Date of oldest tombstone
1903 (possibly removed from Odessa's demolished Jewish cemetery)
Date of newest tombstone
2018
Urgency of erecting a fence
Fence is not needed
Land ownership
Municipality
Preserved construction on site
There are many buildings on the cemetery site including a beit-tahara, cemetery office, an ohel and a number of sheds. There is a large memorial on the cemetery for victims of the 1905 pogrom, which was relocated here from the 2nd Jewish cemetery.
Drone surveys
No

Historical overview

Odessa’s third Jewish cemetery was established in 1905. According to the cemetery keeper, the oldest preserved gravestones date from 1903, and they may have been removed from Odessa’s demolished cemetery. The newest tombstone dates from 2018. The city’s third Jewish cemetery is considered as one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in Ukraine.

There is no information available about the Jewish community of Khadzhibei (the Turkish name of the territory of Odessa before its Russian annexation). However, it existed before 1789, when Russian troops captured the Turkish fortress. The Jewish population of the city of Odessa, in 1795, numbered 146 (10% of the total population). In the early 18th century, a synagogue, cemetery, Talmud Tora and hospital were functioning in the city. From the mid-19th century, Jews were dominant in many trade spheres such as cattle selling, grain export etc. Jews were engaged in medical practice, jurisprudence, engineering, architecture and other professions. In 1886, 44 synagogues were operating. The educational sector was developed during the second half of the 19th century, and 200 hederim and 40 elementary schools were functioning in the city in the early 20th century. By 1897, the Jewish population had grown to 138,935 (34% of the total population). Additionally, 1,049 Karaites resided in Odessa. In 1905, 300 Jews were murdered in a pogrom. After the revolution of 1917, self-defence formations were organised in the Jewish community. Odessa was a centre of the Zionist movement from the years of the establishment of the Benei Moshe society in 1889, and the so-called Odessa Committee, whose official name was the Society for the Support of Agricultural Workers and Craftsmen in Syria and Palestine. Many prominent writers and leaders of the Zionist movement, such as Tel Aviv’s first mayor Meir Dizengoff, as well as Zalman Epstein, C. N. Bialik, and Ze’ev Jabotinsky were active in Odessa. In the early 1920s, the Soviet government encouraged the development of Yiddish: the official correspondence of the militia organisations and courts were kept in Yiddish, and there were also Jewish departments in local teacher’s colleges. In 1928, the Museum of Jewish Culture was founded. By 1939, the Jewish population had reached 200,961 (33% of the total population). Nazi and Romanian troops occupied Odessa on October 16, 1941. From October 23 to 25, 1941, the number of Jews who were executed, burnt in barracks or shot is estimated to be more than 40,000. On January 10 to 11, 1942, a ghetto was created in the Slobodka neighbourhood. The ghetto concentrated the Jewish population before their deportation to execution sites. One such site is the region of Berezovka, where as many as 33,000 Jews from Odessa were murdered in early 1942. According to official data, the ghetto operated until June 10, 1942; however, the last transport left to Berezovka on June 23, 1942. Jews began returning to Odessa after April 10, 1944. In 1958, 102,000 Jews were residing in Odessa.

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