KAMENKA

KAMENKA: 258450, US Commission No. UA23050101
Alternate names: Kam'yanka (Ukraine). Kamenka 258450 is located in Cherkasskaya at 49º2 32º6, 58 km from Chercass, 139 km from Uman and 30 km from Smela. The cemetery is located in west part of town, Zadripnyanskogo StreetPresent town population is 5,001-25,000 with 11-100 Jews.
-- Town officials: town soviet, Kirova st., 13 - Kolos Mikhail Mikhaylovich for president of Kalinskiy Region, Kirova st., 1 of Tatarinov Mikhail Vasiliyevich [Phone: (04732) 21575]. Garnaga Vladimir Vasilievich, KKP of Zavodskaya st., 2a.
-- Regional: Chercass, 257000, Kreschatik st., 193 - Ostapenko Yakov Vasiliyevich.
-- Oblast Jewish Community, Trakhtenbroyt Petr Maksovich.
-- Caretaker: Andrushenko Elena Gerasimovna, Zadnepryanskogo Street 55.
-- Others: Portyazhskaya Sof'ya Grigoriyevna of Kamenka, Gogolya Street, 23.
     The earliest known Jewish community was 1831. 1939 Jewish population (census) was 1106. The Jewish cemetery was established in 1831 with last known Hasidic burial in 1995. No other towns or villages used this unlandmarked cemetery. The isolated urban crown of a hill has no sign, but has Jewish symbols on gate or wall. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all. A broken fence and non-locking gate surrounds the site. 21 to 100 stones, about half in original location, date from 1928. The cemetery has no special sections. Some tombstones have iron decorations or lettering, portraits on stones, and/or metal fences around graves. The cemetery contains no known mass graves. The municipality owns the site used for Jewish cemetery only. Adjacent properties are residential. The cemetery boundaries are smaller now than 1939. Occasionally, local residents visit. The cemetery was vandalized prior to World War II. There has been cleared vegetation and fixed gate. There is no maintenance. Within the limits of the cemetery are no structures. Serious threat: weather erosion. Slight threat: uncontrolled access, pollution and vandalism.
     Turman Bella Samuilovna of Chercass, Homenko St. 16, apt. 66 [Phone: (0472) 631272] visited site on 2/12/95. Portnyazhkaya Sof'ya Grogorievna of Kamenka, Gogolya St. 23 was interviewed on 2/12/95. She completed survey on 02/13/1995.