LYUBAR

LYUBAR:     US Commission No. UA05090501
Lyubar is located in Zhitomirskaya, 88 km from Zhitomir and 67 km from Berdichev. The mass grave is located at Peschanoye, 1.5 km to N, left of road to Novaya Chartoriya Present town population is 5,001-25,000 with fewer than 10 Jews.

• Town officials: Village Council - Fomin Vasiliy Stepanovich [Phone (04147) 21467]. Regional Cultural Department-Lyubar, Lenina Street39 [Phone (04147) 21241].
  
• Rokhmelyuk Klara Rakhimovna of Lyubar, Chernyakhovskopgo St. 6.
  

     The earliest known Jewish community was 1784. 1926 Jewish population (census) was 4146. Living in Jewish community were writer Aron Vergelis (born 1918) and writer Ihil Falikolan (1911-1977). The unlandmarked Hasidic mass grave was dug in 1941. No Jews from other towns or villages were murdered here. The isolated wooded flat land has no sign or marker. Reached by turning directly off a public road and crossing forest, access is open to all. A broken fence with no gate surrounds site. 1 to 20 stones, all in original location with none toppled or broken, date from 1980. No stones were removed. Some tombstones have metal fences around graves. The site contains marked mass graves. Municipality owns property used for mass burial site. Adjacent properties are forest. The mass grave boundaries are larger now than 1939. Rarely, local residents visit. This mass grave was not vandalized. Jewish individuals within country did re-erection of stones and cleared vegetation in 1980. Now, occasionally individuals clean or clear. Within the limits of site are no structures. Moderate threat: uncontrolled access and vandalism. Slight threat: weather erosion, pollution, vegetation, and proposed nearby development.
     Kogan Leonid of Novograd-Volynskiy, Lenina Street 107, Apt. 42. [Phone (04141) 54259] visited site and completed survey on 6/3/96. Interviewed was Rakhmelyuk Klara Rakhmilyevna on 21/07/1994.
     Person to contact about grave locations: Klara Rchmeluk, Maya and Sasha Bonderchuk, Ukraine, Settlement Lubar 6, Chernyahovskogo Street, phone 011 38 04 147 2-16-03. The unlandmarked cemetery with no signs or markings is in town but not centrally located and definitely not visible from the road. Fragments of an old wall exist buried beneath overgrown brush are set back from the main road about 100 yards. The cemetery is active with last known Jewish burial in 1994. Fewer than 10 Jews remain in community. The isolated flat land is reached by turning directly off a public road and is open to all with no wall, fence or gate. Tombstones date from the 20th century. 100-500 gravestones are in cemetery, with 20-100 gravestones in original locations. 75% of surviving stones are toppled or broken. The sandstone markers are rough stones or boulders. Some have portraits on stones and/or metal fences around graves. Inscriptions are Hebrew, Yiddish and Russian. The property is used for Jewish cemetery only. Properties adjacent to the cemetery are commercial-industrial and agricultural. Private visitors rarely visit the cemetery. The cemetery was vandalized occasionally in the last ten years. There has been no maintenance and are no structures. Vandalism is a slight threat. Security (uncontrolled access) is a serious threat due to horse and cattle droppings throughout. Local schoolchildren play on grounds. Weather erosion is a very serious threat (75%+ of stones are illegible due to erosion). Existing nearby development is a moderate threat. Vegetation overgrowth in the cemetery is a constant problem, disturbing graves. The site was visited in July, 1997 by Ellen Shindelman, 5400 N. 27th Road, Arlington, VA 22207 USA; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The survey was completed on September 25, 1997.