Ukrainian Jewish Cemetery saved by a whisker

Synagogue-202 Maykovskava-Vinnitza, Ukraine -211100-Tel.: 380-432-35-93-80-Fax: 380-432-61-06-11-Rabbi Shaul Horovitz

(April 4, 2008)

U.S. intervention prevented building on the site of an old Jewish cemetery in Ukraine.
Authorities in Vinnitza, 160 miles from Kiev, had allowed the SMU-2 Ltd. construction firm to erect two high-rise buildings on the site.

U.S. officials on Thursday told JTA that the embassy intervened and the work order was stopped.
A local rabbi earlier told JTA that representatives of the local Jewish community planned to express their concern in a letter to city and national leaders.

Igor Kulyavtzev, the acting chair of the Vinnitza Jewish community, said workers building a Christian chapel recently near the cemetery site dismantled several tombstones. City residents reportedly used some of the stones for their own needs. (UCSJ)