Cemetery

Bila Tserkva Kyivska Street Cemetery

The oldest Jewish cemetery in Bila Tserkva was founded at the end of the 16th century along Rokitnyanskaya Street (now Sholem Aleichem Street). Following the death of Bohdan Khmelnytsky in 1657, Jewish life in the Right Bank region of Ukraine became more precarious. Civil unrest caused the Jewish population of Bila Tserkva to leave until the early 18th century. When they returned, they continued to use the Old Cemetery, but gradual construction meant the cemetery could no longer be expanded. Between 1873 and 1898, the Jewish community underwent the process of closing the Old Cemetery and purchasing land for a new one. The Old Cemetery was partially destroyed in the 1920s during the construction of a Komsomol stadium. In 1943, the German Army ordered the complete destruction of the Old Cemetery, forcing the Jews to dismantle matsevot. Following the Second World War, the Soviet government used these matsevot for building material. The Old Cemetery property now serves as a memorial complex, including an ohel and fragments of old matsevot. Some matsevot can still be found around the city or buried near the fence of the Kyivska Street cemetery. The Jewish community is in the process of gathering these matsevot.

There is a Jewish section of the Kyivska Street cemetery that opened in 1898. Many relatives of those buried at the Old Jewish Cemetery relocated remains to this cemetery in the 1950s and 1960s after an ultimatum made by the Soviet government. The Bila Tserkva Jewish community therefore refers to this cemetery as the Old Jewish Cemetery, although it is not technically the historical Old Cemetery. The Jewish community regularly maintains this "New" Old Cemetery, particularly around Rosh Hashanah. Many matsevot have been digitized and are available online.

Kyivska Street Cemetery

A New Jewish Cemetery is located in a separate section of the Sukhoyarska Street cemetery. These are the most recent burials of the Bila Tserkva Jewish community, many of them from the 21st century. There is currently no online catalog.