Once again there has been an increase in anti-Semitisim in Europe.  In Northwestern England a prominent Jewish headstone was vandalized, along with windows and other structures in the cemetery.  In a Jewish cemetery in France close to 80 headstones were desecrated when vandals painted swastikas on them.  For much of the 46 countries throughout Europe, these cemeteries are all the proof that remains of there having ever been a Jewish community there.  As these acts along with increased Holocaust deniers grow, The European Union is striving to put an end to the continued loss of these Jewish cemeteries.

The European Union has pledged a grant of $911,100 to a private German company to see that these sites are preserved.  The European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative plans to survey 1,500 Jewish cemeteries in Slovakia, Greece, Moldova, Lithuania and Ukraine.  But conducting the survey is sure to be a daunting task.  The majority of these areas have been long forgotten by their communities and overrun by the environment.  So they plan to use drones to help map out the areas where the cemeteries once thrived.

The drones will be used to fly over the plots of land taking photographs of everything below.  These photographs will then be used to create topographical maps of the land that is covered in broken headstones, litter, and brush.  Once the drones have made accurate maps of the cemetery boundaries The European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative will be able to fence off these areas.  However, they know that a fence is just the beginning of the project at hand.  There will also be the need for a massive cleanup and restoration of the cemeteries as well as the need to hire a full time maintenance and security staff.

The first step is of course to hire drone operators to find all of the suspected cemeteries.  The initiative’s CEO Philip Carmel said, “It is vital, especially, that the next generation of Europeans learns about Jewish existence to combat rising anti-Semitisim and Holocaust denial.  The cemeteries are so often the last physical proof of centuries of Jewish life in the towns and villages of Europe, which were wiped out in the Shoa.  There is no better proof to deny Holocaust denial.”  Some of these cemeteries are in need of immediate care, which is why they are using drones rather than mapping from the ground.

Drones will be able to get a detailed view of the land.  They can fly into areas that may be hard for people to access because of all of the overgrowth.  They can also preform  the mapping in a way that will not cause further damage to the already compromised sites, damage that could be caused by foot traffic.  Most importantly, they can get the job done in record time as some of the cemeteries are almost to the point of being irreparable.  All the data collected by the drones will be sent to experts in Kiev to be interpreted into areas to be fenced off.

The The European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative, founded by Rabbi Isaac Schapira, has already begun work on an 18th century Jewish cemetery in Slovakia.  According to Rabbi Schapira the importance of this mission goes beyond the saving of historical landmarks.  He said, “Preserving our Jewish history creates a vital link to our past, which in turn makes us more aware of the present and shapes our future.  We owe our ancestors this duty and mark of respect by ensuring their final resting places are restored and preserved.

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