the heritage value of the Brest-Litovsk Jewish cemetery memorial campaign

Maxim Chesnokov, Archaeologist and Objects Conservator

09/05/2024

I was introduced to The Together Plan by founder Debra Brunner at her recent talk at the Finchley Reform Synagogue in North London. Debra introduced the charity and its aims, and touched on an ongoing project in Belarus concerning a number of Jewish headstones which had been salvaged from the local area following the destruction of the Jewish cemetery in the 1940s. Working in the world of heritage as a conservator, I was immediately captivated by the tangible stories of these headstones and their journey through history. Later, I was shown a presentation focusing on the plans of the Brest Headstone Project, concerning over 1250 tombstones and fragments which have been salvaged from the region. These headstones form the basis of plans to build a memorial park in part of the original area of the Brest-Livotsk (Brisk) Jewish cemetery in Belarus. The presentation included compelling photographs of these tombstones, stacked atop one another in a storage facility, waiting for a new purpose. The planned memorial park on the same site as the old Jewish cemetery will recognise the Belarusian Holocaust victims, rekindle the memory of this forgotten history, and serve as a reminder of community perseverance and the value of cultural heritage.

 

 

Evidently there had been a deliberate program of erasure and repurposing of the tombstones after the initial destruction of the cemetery during the war. Since the Brest Headstone Project started and fragments began to be collated, they have been discovered within pavements, building foundations, in the construction of private homes, and scattered across the landscape. Having a monument which recognises and promotes the heritage value of these fragments will lead to discussions and further identification of lost material, and whilst those lodged in building foundations and homes are unlikely to be recovered at this stage, discussions and identification will create conversations around the dynamic roles of the tombstones – from burial markers to foundational stones – and acknowledge how they have been valued implicitly or explicitly by communities which have come to use them.

Although part of the land has already been redeveloped, the decision to re-erect the headstones near their authentic location (land that was also part of the original cemetery) respects their original purpose as markers of individuals buried in a Jewish cemetery and enriches the currently unused landscape. This monument will help to ensure the ongoing preservation of the headstones by removing them from the risks of many ‘agents of deterioration’ such as neglect, theft, and inappropriate environmental exposure, and provide a purpose-built location for the deceased and their history to be memorialised and visited. It will also be a catalyst for broader discussions about destroyed and/or repurposed pre-war heritage in the region and beyond, likely leading to more discoveries and stories to be told.

 

 

As an archaeologist and a conservator, I often work with sites which have been threatened by urban development and with objects which have been removed from their contexts and displayed in museums. These headstones have experienced a tumultuous journey, shuffled between various storage spaces and simultaneously rescued and endangered by their reuse in buildings. The decision to re-erect them near their original location respects their original purpose and enriches the current cultural scene. This project aims to return these artefacts to their historical location and redisplay them in their original context, which is something of a rare achievement in close alignment with the charity’s wider aims to unite and engage community members. This heritage crosses multiple time periods and cultures, and is not just a ‘Jewish’ monument – in addition to its importance for Jewish communities via the reversal of funerary erasure, this monument will promote inclusive dialogue highlighting the continuous relevance of these displaced cultural markers to local residents, historians, and tourists.

 

 

Combatting erasure and loss of heritage by bringing these headstones and their stories into a monument emphasises the responsibility for stakeholders to promote ‘dialogue, co-operation, democratic debate and participation as well as openness between cultures’ in keeping with existing guidelines for cultural heritage management such as the Faro Convention, and I am looking forward to supporting the hard work of this project to achieve its ultimate goal.