Dokshitsy Cemeteries
"They should know that there was once a shtetl named Dokshitz, where Jewish life flourished." Shechna Kantorovitch monuments erected by the Friends of Jewish Dokshitsy with your help.
This page is about Jewish Cemeteries in Dokshitsy. For other cemeteries with many Dokshitzers visit Other Cemeteries
When we think of the cemetery in Dokshitsy, we think of the cemetery across from the street of the Holocaust massacre site. The cemetery was destoyed by the government in 1966. A law had been passed that any property that was abandoned for 20 years could be taken by the government. There was a burial in 1946. The government declared the cemetery to be a park. Many of the stones were removed. Some pictures from the 1990s and early 2000s show a pile of stones in the cemetery. There were paths used by the neighbors for short cuts. This destruction happened to many cemeteries in the Soviet Union at that time. Often the headstones were used in construction, including both buildings and roads. This cemetery was restored in 2007-2008 by the Dokshitsy District with the help of the Friends of Jewish Dokshitsy after 100 tombstones were found buried under a road.
There is a second cemetery across the river Berezina. This cemetery became an electric substation. The ground was leveled. In 2008 stones were seen by Lou Michaelson around the periphery. Also in 2015, workers showed Marvin Kabakoff and Aaron Ginsburg three stones they had disovered just under the ground. In 2019 at meeting with the Dokshitsy Chairman at the time, Oleg Pinchuk, visitors were told that a buidling on the property was demolished and 60 headstones were found and erected in the restored cemetery.
According to Nikolai Dmitrovich Chiastikov, who had mentioned the existence of the second cemetery, it is on the side of the river that was in the Vilna Gubernia (Province) during the Russian empire. Much of Dokshitsy including the first cemetery was in the Minsk Gubernia. Jews from nearby Parfianov used the Dokshitsy cemetery according to two sources, Shmuel Rozov and Nikolai Chistakov. In all probability Voznvoshchina, a small settlement near Parfianov also did.
There are 134 tombstones in the first cemetery. The stones that can be dated go back to 1760, and are as recent as 1924. Many of the stones do not have last names. The stones do not appear to be a random sample. There are quite a few Rabbis, which indicate that the stones come from the dignitaries' section. Pictures of the 134 stones are in a google photo album.
For the 134 stones photographed in 2008, it is impossible to know if they all came from the site of the restored cemetery. The stones that were moved after that have been photographed but not translated.
David Freedman translated and transliterated the text of the 134 tombstones into English. He used pictures (continued below picture)
taken by Frank Swartz, supplemented in a few cases by Gloria Dove. All the pictures can be seen in a google photo album. When viewing a picture, click on the information symbol ( "i" in a circle) to see he translations and comments. David also looked to see if any of the stones could be identified with known people. In several cases he found people had been mentioned in revision lists (censuses) In the case of Rabbi Yehoshua Zelig Kabakoff, whose stone is on the left, there were several sources of information- the Yizkor book by a granddaughter, and in the family memory of the Kabokoff family in the United States. These translations are posted below in spreadsheet format by last name, picture number, and date. Click on the picture to the right, and scroll down to read the comments and reveal a fascinating story. Aaron Ginsburg briefly visited the second cemetery in May 2008. It is now the site of a power transmission station. When Lew Michelson went to Dokshitsy in August, 2008, he made a thorough exploration of the perimeter of the second cemetery. At least three tombstones were discovered, one of which David Freedman has translated:
[1] p.n.[2] m. Shmuel[3] Zanvil b.?r.?[4] Moshe z.l.[5] vnif.[6] 18 Tevet, 500+[7] 80 l.q. t.n.tz.b.h. [1] Buried here is[2] Mr. Shmuel[3] Zanvil son of[4] Moshe of blessed memory.[5] He died[6] 18 (written as Hai) Tevet, 500+[7] 80 of the millennium (= 5 January 1820). May his soul be bound in the bonds of eternal life.In addition to the cemeteries in Dokshitsy, there are many graves in the Dokshitsy Diaspora whose tombstones may provide information of value to Dokshitsy descendants. See Other Cemeteries for more information. In Maspeth, NY there is a Dokshitzer section in the Mount Zion Cemetery. A search revealed 194 burials There is also a section in the In addition, places like Newport, RI and Sheboygan Wisconsin have a large concentration of such stones. Other cemeteries of interest include the Dokshitzer section of the Mount Zion Cemetery in Masspeth, NY, the Jewish cemetery on Farewell St in Newport RI, and others.
