LUBEN-VELIKIY: US Commission No. UA13390501
Alternative names: German: Lubon Polish: Liubien Wielki. It is located in Lvovskaya Oblast at 49º44' 23º44', 20 km from Lvov. The cemetery is located at the NE part of the village, 200m from village exit from Luben-Velikiy. Present town population is 1000-5000. No Jews.
Town officials: Village Soviet Chairman Bogdan Bublik, tel.: 94136, 94229. Village Soviet is in the center on main village road, near the school.
Regional officials: Lvov Regional State Administration, Lvov, Vinnichenko St. 18, reception room, tel.: 722947, 728093.
Lvov Jewish Community, Lvov, Mikhnovskih St. 4, tel.: 330524, Rabbi Mordekhai Shloime Bold.
Anna Alexandrovna Gadovskaya, Lvov, tel.: 741388.
The cemetery is unlocked has no caretaker. 1935 Orthodox Jewish population (census) was 236. The unlandmarked cemetery dates from 25 May1943. The isolated wooded plain has sign or marker in local language (Ukrainian) telling about Holocaust victims. Reached by turning directly off the road, access is open to all. No walls, fence, or gate surrounds the cemetery. The approximate size of the cemetery is 120 square meters. 1-20 gravestones, all in original location . with less than 25% of stones broken, date from 1959.. Location of any stones, which have been removed, is unknown. The granite rough and boulder-like stones and multi-stone monuments with traces of painting have Ukrainian inscriptions. There are also some separate monuments dedicated to Holocaust victims. The cemetery contains marked mass graves. The owner is unknown. An agricultural area borders the cemetery. The cemetery boundaries are larger than in 1939. Rarely do local citizens visit. The cemetery was vandalized sometimes during last ten years (Stones are broken and stolen.) Responsible for 1959 restoration were local/municipal powers. There are no structures. Very serious threat: vandalism. The monument has a broken granite sign that records Ukrainian nationalists and soviet citizens who died.
Iosif Gelston, Lvov 290049, PO Box 10569, tel./fax: (0322) 227490 completed survey on 10.11.1998. Documentation: Catechism of Lvov archdiocese of Greek-Catholic Church, p. 91, Lvov, 1935, 1936; Slownik Geograficzny Krolewstwa Polkiego, T.5, p. 405, 406, Warszawa, 1884 (in Polish). Other documents exist, but were unavailable. Gelston visited site on 3.11.1998. Anna Alexandrovna Gadotskaya, born in Luben-Velikiy, works in department of citizens appealing to Lvov regional administration, office tel.: 741388, was interviewed.
Additional information: The monument was established during Soviet time in 1959 in the place where Jews from Luben-Velikiy were murdered. The monument inscription does not tell about Jews but about soviet citizens of Jewish nationality who were killed by fascists and Ukrainian nationalists. Perhaps, this record was destroyed because of mention about Ukrainian nationalists. In private conversation, Anna Gadovskaya said that her father was responsible for establishing of the monument to lost Jews. That is why she remembers well the events of the end of 1950s.
[UPDATE] Photo by Charles Burns [April 2016]