This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. cemetery is on the NW side of village as the original description says. A more exact location is that it is entered from a small road on the right border of the Catholic cemetery and this loops behind it. Drive along the road for 200 meters and you will see the cemetery on the left. link on Google Maps:
There is a gate that is closed by wire only put through a lock. One has to untie the wire after which it can be entered. There is no key required. Walk across the small field and there is an entrance into the small cemetery of about 80-100 stones. This cemetery has not been maintained and the bushes with thorns grow fairly high. Just about all of the stones are visible though and with appropriate gloves to move these branches can be viewed. The back row are almost all Cohanim. The earliest dates are from the 1860s. Many stones are in Hebrew only. Michael Perl visited in October 2019.
REPORT: The cemetery is located in Cermei, on northwest side of the village, neighboring the Roman Catholic Cemetery, 2863, judet Arad, 4633 2151, 252.3 miles NW of Bucharest and 75 km from Arad. Alternate name: Csermo (Hungarian). Present town population is 1,000-5,000 with no Jews.
- Mayor Vesa Ioan Daniel, Cermei, no. 505, judet Arad, phone: 302
- The Jewish Community of Arad, 10, Tribunul Dobra Str., 2900 Arad, Romania. Tel. +40-57-281310
- The Federation of the Jewish Communities of Romania, Sf. Vineri Str., no 9-11, Sector 3, Bucharest, Romania.
- "Dr. Moshe Carmilly" Institute for Hebrew and Jewish History, Universitatii Str., no. 7-9, room 61, 3400 Cluj Napoca, Romania, director: Ladislau Gyemant, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- Key holder: Opritan Ioan, Cermei, no. 445, phone: 511860, judet Arad, Romania
The Jewish population by 1880 census was 104 and in 1910 census was 122. The unlandmarked Orthodox cemetery was established in 19th century. Last known burial was around 1960.
Bordering the Catholic cemetery, cemetery is situated between the grain fields. The gravestones would need some restoration. The rural/agricultural flat land, separate but near other cemeteries, has no sign or marker. Reached by a public road, access is open to all. A fence with a gate that locks surrounds the site. Approximate pre- and post-WWII size is 19 m x 50 m. 20-100 stones are visible, all in original location. Less than 25% of the stones are toppled or broken. Location of stones removed from the cemetery is unknown. Vegetation overgrowth in the cemetery is not a problem. Water drainage is a constant problem. No special sections.
The oldest known gravestone dates from 19th century. The 19th and 20th century marble, granite, and "other" boulders, flat shaped, and smoothed and inscribed and double tombstones have Hebrew and Hungarian inscriptions. Some have metal fences around graves. No known mass graves. The national Jewish community owns the property used for Jewish cemetery only. Adjacent properties are agricultural and cemetery. Rarely, private Jewish or non-Jewish visitors stop. The never vandalized cemetery maintenance has been clearing vegetation. No care now. No structures.
Assistant Professor Alexandru Pecican, Almasului Str., Bl. R1, apt. 14, 3400 Cluj-Napoca
completed the survey on September 9, 2000 using the following documentation:
- Coriolan Suciu, Dicţionar istoric al localităţilor din Transilvania, I-II, Bucharest, 1968
- Marki Sandor, Arad varmegye es Arad szabad kiralyi varos tortenete, Arad, 1895
- 1880 census, Bucharest, Edit. Staff, 1999.
- Carmilly-Weinberger, Moshe. History of the Jews of Transylvania (1623-1944), Bucharest, 1994 (in Romanian)
He visited the site September 9, 2000 and interviewed Oprisan Ioan, Cermeii. [January 2003]