Rabbi Mendel Eckstein of Bnei Brak, an internationally
recognized expert in the identification and location of
Jewish graves and human remains, has concluded a four-day
visit to Europe at the invitation of the Committee for the
Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries in Europe, with whom he has
worked in the past on a number of projects.
In London, Rabbi Eckstein visited the Sephardic Nuovo
Cemetery on Mile End Road to try to locate the kever
of the famous mekubal HaRav Shalom Buzaglo zt"l
author of Mikdash Melech. In the course of
investigations it transpired that at the time of the infamous
exhumation of thousands of graves from the cemetery to mass-
graves near Brentwood when the cemetery was sold by the
community to Queen Mary College some 30 years ago, it seems
that only those graves located on parts of the site where
construction actually took place were in fact exhumed, while
hundreds of others located in a courtyard between the College
buildings, remain intact. However, all matzeivas were
removed and these graves now lie completely unmarked and
unprotected. It appears that the kevorim of the
Mikdash Melech and of HaRav Yaakov Kimchi zt"l, author
of Shoshanas Yaakov, were among those transferred to
Brentwood.
From London, Rabbi Eckstein travelled together with Rabbi
Elyokim Schlesinger, rosh Yeshivas Horomoh and Head of the
Committee's Rabbinical Board, to Poznan in Poland were the
Committee is involved in efforts to save the remains of the
historic Jewish cemetery there, most of which has recently
been destroyed in the course of the construction of an
International Fair on the site of the Jewish cemetery and the
surrounding area.
In Poznan they met up with Chief Rabbi M. Schudrich of Warsaw
and Dr. B. Rosenberg of Zurich, who are deeply involved in
the efforts to save the remnants of the Poznan cemetery, the
burial place of gedolei Yisroel who served this great
kehilloh for hundreds of years. After careful
inspection, Rabbi Eckstein confirmed the Committee's findings
that the graves in one section of the cemetery just outside
the grounds of the site of the Fair remain intact, although
all external signs of the kevorim have long
disappeared.
He also helped to locate the burial place of the gaon HaRav
Akiva Eiger zt"l, on the basis of prewar photographs
and the description given by an elderly descendant who
visited there in his youth.
The Committee is currently making arrangements for the
preservation of the beis hakvoros and the erection of
matzeivos etc. This project is likely to cost in the
region of 80,000 British Pounds (more than $120,000) for
which donors are sought.
Anyone who has any further information on the Poznan cemetery
and/or the kever of HaRav Akiva Eiger, or wishes to
sponsor this project, is requested to contact the Committee
in London on 020 8802 6853.
A plan to visit Metz, where the Committee is involved in a
desperate campaign to stop a development on the site of the
old Jewish Cemetery at Avenue de Blida and to ascertain the
exact location of remaining kevorim, had to be postponed due
to the cancellation of airline flights. Be'eizer
Hashem it will take place in the near future.
