User:Ehrlich91/Jewish Cemetery (Štip)

Jewish cemetery in Štip - cemetery for the jewish community in Štip, located 5 kilometers away from the town. The access to the cemetery has been difficult, especially for the people that carried the deceased according to the jewish tradition. The cemetery in Štip had existed even before the Spanish and Portuguese refugees arrived. It can’t be determined whether the cemetery has always been on the same place. Between the two world wars there weren’t any jewish stone engravers, thus the teacher Menahem “Mercado” Cion drew the text with large clear letters on a cardboard in order for the christian stone engravers to copy them for the jewish people.

After March 11 1943 the Bulgarians have picked up all the tombstones, removed the scribings and took them to the natural bath near the village Kezhovica, located around 2 kilometers away from Štip. They used the tombstones to build the base for the pool in the bath.

After the war, on the initiative from one of the survivors, Isak Cion, a monument for the jews victims of the fascism was built in Shtip.

In 2009, the museum in Štip began with rebuilding the jewish cemetery. According to Zoran Chitkushev, director of the museum in Štip, there were plans to renew and conserve the graves. Additionally, the creation of a road to provide access to the cemetery, making a fence wall and maintaining them accordingly was in the works. All that will be done with funds provided by the Government and the Ministry of Culture, and the Office for preserving the cultural heritage.