Alternate Hungarian name: Erdõszăda. Located in jud. Maramureş at 47°39 23°22, 257.8 miles NNW of Bucharest. Leaving Ardusat on the way to Satu Mare, the cemetery is on the right adjacent to the remains of the County boundary marker. The cemetery in Ardusat is unfortunately located in a "no where" land that straddles the border between Maramures and Satu Mare counties. This great stretch of land is devoid of any homes and is host to large patches of farmland and underbrush. The site is listed on the Baia Mare Community list that states that the community built a concrete post and wire mesh fence in 1989. Nevertheless, the list states that there is no caretaker, something that became evident as soon as we approached the site. In our search, we actually drove past it a few times before a local resident described its location in detail. Just past the "Welcome to Satu Mare County" sign on the right, which incidentally does not actually say "Welcome to Satu Mare County" because all of the metal letters have been stolen, is a large mass of growth and spiny plants concealing what remains of the cemetery.
- Local authority: Comunitatea Evreilor (Baia Mare), Str. Someşului Nr. 5, 4800 Baia Mare, Jud. Maramureş, Romania. Tel: (40-62) 211-231.
- Regional authority: Federation of Jewish Communities Romania, Str. Sf. Vineri 9-11, Bucureşti, Tel: (40-1) 613-2538, 143-008. Contact: Mr. Alex Silvan
- Others, who may have information: Jewish community in Baia Mare or the Federation of Jewish Communities in Bucuresti.
The vegetation overgrowth in the cemetery is both a seasonal problem preventing access and a constant problem disturbing graves and damaging tombstones. Water drainage is not a problem. Apparently, no one has made any attempt to clear the vegetation since 1989. Entering in the cemetery itself is quite a challenge, though we did manage to crawl through the growth to discover a number of standing and toppled stones. One particularly large marble marker, with a face about one meter square, looked to have been toppled by human means in what was clearly a failed effort to steal this large and valuable block of black stone. Even if the fence is rebuilt and the cemetery restored to its former beauty, surveillance would be difficult given the isolated location of the site. Adjacent to the cemetery, running off the main road, is a dirt trail leading down into the fields below. Evidently, this road functions as a waste dump for the village and further exemplifies the lack of respect for the dead buried in the cemetery. The garbage appears to be creeping closer and closer to the cemetery over time. Partial list of things found on the site: Most of a dead horse, pots and pans, an electric iron, old clothing, crushed plastic bottles, broken glass, plastic bags, shoes, a newspaper from the 27 September 1999, boots, curtains, tins, towels, bricks, burnt wood and human excrement. Some of the stones in this cemetery were very striking and beautiful, yet the conditions of the site left us feeling bitter. The theft of stones is the primary vandalism encountered between 1945 and the present with the fence was stolen after 1989. Within the limits of the cemetery are no structures. Uncontrolled access, weather erosion, pollution, and vegetation are serious threats.
John DeMetrick and Christina Crowder (who have no further information) completed this survey on 30 June 2000 using a list of cemeteries known by Jewish Community in Baia Mare. Other documentation exists. Further inquiries about the site could be addressed to the Jewish community in Baia Mare or the Federation of Romanian Jewish Communities in Bucuresti. They visited the site on 25 June 2000 and conducted interviews.