UCSJ's Meylakh Sheykhet, who has worked for over a decade trying
to preserve Holocaust sites and Jewish cemeteries from the ravages
of neglect and thoughtless development, put together the following brief
report highlighting UCSJ's current battles aimed at preserving Jewish
sites in Ukraine:
Ukrainian officials regularly disregard the importance of preserving
Jewish cultural heritage sites that were damaged by the Nazis and the
Soviet regime. It is especially shocking that some of the sites that
even the Soviet regime classified as worthy of protection and
preservation have been given to developers in independent Ukraine.
This callous attitude towards the right of the dead to rest in peace
shows a disturbing lack of respect for the rule of law.
By allowing Jewish cultural sites to be damaged or destroyed by
developers, Ukraine is in violation of the International Agreement for
the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, including the 1994 US-Ukraine
Agreement under the auspices of UNESCO. The Ukrainian side of the
bilateral US-Ukraine Commission for Cultural Heritage Preservation has
de facto ceased its activity because no new members have been
appointed by the Ukrainian government in recent years. Fortunately,
the U.S. government has worked through the American Commission for the
Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad to help preserve some sites.
Ukrainian courts have ruled in favor of developers seeking permission
to violate Jewish grave sites by building apartment buildings, sewage
lines, a gas station, roads and even entertainment complexes. This is
a violation of Ukrainian law, which strictly forbids any construction
on or sale of land classified as a grave site. Executive Order 604-p
issued by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in 1998 has been
disregarded many times in court cases which UCSJ filed to protect
Jewish grave sites.
Among the many recent violations of these laws are the following recent cases:
1. The municipal administration of Lviv granted a permit to
developers seeking to build a hotel and entertainment complex on the
site of a 19th century fortification called the Citadel. The Citadel,
known as a concentration camp Shatalag 328 during World War II, was a
place where 284,000 POWs were tortured by the Nazis and their
collaborators, 140,000 of whom died. Among them were Jewish,
Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, Italian, French, Belgian, and Dutch soldiers and
civilians. Every day, the prisoners were shot, beaten, and tortured in
the most vicious way. Often, their corpses were burned, and the bitter
smell spread around the city. Even today, you could find human
remains on the grounds. UCSJ was the only organization which studied
the site and performed a map that showed the location of the mass
graves. The documents were sent to the mayor and the regional
administration. Nevertheless, the Lviv city administration refused to
stop construction.
2. A Lviv appeal court recently approved the construction of a
gas station on top of a Jewish cemetery and a mass grave in Kolomiya.
3. UCSJ is currently working to protect Jewish cemeteries in
Berdichiv, Uman, Lviv, Chorkiv, Ternopil, Mikulintsy, and Pidhaytsy
from similar acts of desecration.
Despite all of these clear violations of the law, the government of
Ukraine has no active position on the preservation of Jewish and non-
Jewish gravesites. UCSJ has held seminars for government officials
and has sent them multiple appeals to raise their awareness of these
problems, but so far, very little positive action has taken place.
The callous disregard for the remains of Jewish and non-Jewish victims
of the Nazis is especially troubling in light of continuing incitement of
antisemitism by certain political parties and individuals seeking to exploit
the bigoted views of some Ukrainian voters.
UCSJ calls upon Ukrainian local and central government authorities to
end these thoughtless and illegal acts, which shock the conscience of
the international community.