Cemetery director Przemyslaw Isroel Szpilman walks among the moss-covered and crumbling gravestones of the Warsaw Jewish cemetery, painstakingly jotting details in his notebook. The Nazis burned the offices and files of the sprawling 19th century burial site in 1943 and now Szpilman is taking on the monumental task of reconstructing the cemetery’s records of its estimated 250,000 graves.
As of this week, Szpilman has completed some 60,000 records _ about the quarter-way mark after five years of work. “Many people from around the world would come every day and ask about the graves of their ancestors,” said Szpilman, who has run the cemetery since 2002.
“Each time I had to explain why I cannot help them,” he said. “I decided that as a director I must help them.”
(Source: MSN)
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3 Responses
i am surprised that spielman of warsaw is having such a difficult time. it was always said that the germans y’s’v’z kept that cemetary and records in tact for posterity for history lessons.
I wish I knew where I could send money to. Such a mitzvah!
It is sad that in galus Jews are degraded even after death.