The cemetery is located in Lespezi, judet Iasi, Romania at 4722 2642, 204.6 miles N of Bucharest and 25 km from Pascani, Moldavia. Present town population is 5,000-25,000 with no Jews.
The Jewish population by 1831 census was 26 Jewish families and in 1930 was 1,028 Jews. In 1940 the Jews were deported to Oltenia (Romania). In 1941, the Jews were deported to Transnistria. The cemetery was established in the 19th century with last known burial in 1937. The unlandmarked Orthodox cemetery is 3 km from the congregation that used it. The isolated rural/agricultural flat land has no sign or marker. Reached by a public road, access is open to all. A masonry wall and fence with a non-locking gate surround the site.
Approximate pre- and post-WWII size is 250 x 200 m. Approximately 200 gravestones are in the cemetery. 1-20 stones are not in original location. 50%-75% of the stones are toppled or broken. Location of stones removed from the cemetery is unknown. Vegetation overgrowth in the cemetery is a seasonal problem preventing access. Water drainage is good all year.
No special sections. The oldest known gravestone dates from the end of the 19th century. The 19th and 20th century marble, limestone, and sandstone gravestones have inscriptions in Hebrew and Romanian. Some have traces of painting on their surfaces, iron decorations or letting, bronze decorations or lettering, and other metallic elements and metallic elements other than bronze or iron, and metal fences around graves.
The cemetery contains special memorial monuments to pogrom victims. The national Jewish community owns the property used for an orchard. Adjacent properties are agricultural. Rarely, private Jewish or non-Jewish visitors stop. The never vandalized cemetery was no maintenance. Current care is regular unpaid caretaker. No structures. Security and vandalism are moderate threats.
Lucian Nastasă, Clinicilor Str., no. 19, Cluj, Romania, tel. 064/190107. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. completed the survey on September 27, 2000 using the following documentation:
- E. Schwarzfeld, Din istoria evreilor: împopularea, reîmpopularea si întemeierea tîrgurilor si tîrgusoarelor în Moldova, Bucuresti, 1894.
- N.Sutu, Notiti statistice asupra Moldaviei, Iasi, 1852.
- George I.Lahovari, Marele dictionar geografic al României, 5 vol., Bucuresti, Edit.Socec, 1899.
- Recensamintul general al populatiei Romaniei. 1930, vol.II, Bucuresti, "Monitorul Oficial", 1938
- I.M.Dinescu, Fiii neamului de la 1859 la 1915. Statistica sociala pe întelesul tuturora, Iasi, Institutul de Arte Grafice N.V.Stefaniu, 1920.
- Leonida Colescu, Analiza rezultatelor recensamîntului general al populatiei României de la 1899, cu o prefata de Sabin Manuila, Bucuresti, Institutul de statistica, 1944.
- Pinkas Hakehillot, Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities Romania, I-II, Ierusalem, 1980.
- D. Ivanescu, Populatia evreiasca din orasele si tîrgurile Moldovei între 1774-1832, în "Studia et acta historiae iudaeorum romaniae", II, Bucuresti, Edit.Hasefer, 1997, p. 59-65
Lucian Nastasă interviewed Costiug Petru, com. Lespezi, judet Iasi; Cornaci Marian, com. Lespezi, judet Iasi on September 25, 2000. [January 2003]
[UPDATE] Photos by Charles Burns [March 2016]