Photo credit: Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati
Submitted by Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati
While very few Jews in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s escaped alive from the Nazis and the Holocaust, of the remnant who did survive, several hundred made their way to Cincinnati. Many of those refugees had children, lived out their lives, and are buried here. Their graves look similar to others. Their lives were not.
On Sunday, May 3 from 1:00 – 3:00 p.m., Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati will host a Community Day to honor those Holocaust survivors by placing unique markers by their graves in the UJC Montgomery Cemetery. JCGC staff members and Board trustees will be on hand to help locate the graves at which participants may place a marker. Individuals will also be on hand to share stories of some of those survivors at their gravesides.
Retired UC Professor of Physics Henry Fenichel, himself a child survivor of the Holocaust, and a former Jewish Cemeteries Board Trustee and Emeritus Trustee, will be on hand May 3 at UJC Montgomery Cemetery to tell his own miraculous survival story. His mother, another survivor, is buried there. Fenichel worked on JCGC’s creation of the unique survivor marker from the project’s inception within its Board over four years ago. He joined in committee with three children of survivors — Ray Warren, Sandy Kaltman, and Gail Ziegler — and artist Alan Brown to design the marker and get it manufactured, and to compile and vet the list of Holocaust survivors. Ray Warren was then President of the Board of trustees and spearheaded much of the project’s beginning. Considerable effort was made to give family of survivors the chance to request the markers through the JCGC office.
Cincinnati rabbis and congregants contributed names of survivors, and Board members helped complete the search as well. Survivors’ descendants were given opportunities to inform JCGC if their ancestor would not have wished to have their grave so marked. Corrections will be made as requested.
Numerous Jewish community groups have stepped up to offer their service in placing the Holocaust survivor markers on graves in many other cemeteries under the supervision of Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati. Those activities will be occurring throughout April, May, and June. Each group expressed kinship to the survivors in particular cemeteries and a desire to make the gesture. Interested persons should watch for details that will be shared within each group that asked to help.
Community members who wish to participate that afternoon should RSVP on the JLive app. The event will commence with a welcome on the driveway outside the entrance to UJC Montgomery Cemetery, and is designed for adults and mature children under parental supervision only.
