PROJECT

Jewish Memorial  Open-Air Museum of Târgu Frumos is currently a project proposal developed by the youth of Târgu Frumos town. As citizens of Târgu Frumos, this project proposal is a way to present our compassion to the Jewish community and to express our regrets for the Romanian Holocaust. We want to build a bridge between the past and the future, to revive the connection between the locals and the descendants of the Jews who lived in these lands.

Context

Târgu Frumos was mentioned in old documents as ''the small Jewish town''. Nowadays, the last heritage of this strong connection is an abandoned Cemetery, that stands to remind us about the bright and heartbroken history, the talented Jewish craftsmen, and the train of death where thousands of people were killed in a horrific way.  

The Jewish Cemetery is a 4 hectares of property that covers more than 5000 memorial stones of the people who lived in Târgu Frumos before the war. In the opposite corner of the cemetery, it is placed a monument commemorating the 640 victims of the Death Train that stopped in Târgu Frumos in the summer of 1941. 

Problem

Currently, the condition of the cemetery is deplorable. In 2015, we asked for support from the municipality, but without any big success. With a team of volunteers, we started doing by ourselves the cleaning, but we couldn't finish the work. The thick grass and the stinging shrubs invaded them so deeply the stones that were impossible for 7 young people to clean with rudimentary tools. The Cemetery is located close to a poor Rroma neighborhood, which influenced, even more, the low interest of locals in investing time and resources to preserve it.

Lately, we received two messages from the Jewish community worldwide. We found out that there are people looking for years to find their relatives, and sadly, in Târgu Frumos nobody was available to help. 

Solution

We feel and we believe the Jewish Cemetery is an important place in our town, it is a heritage, a learning, and a commemorative place. We really want to save it, that is why we ask for your support!

We decided to organize a crowdfunding campaign to raise the necessary resources to save the Jewish Cemetery and to arrange an open-air Memorial Museum for the remembrance of the Jewish community that lived and lost their life in Târgu Frumos. 

Our project plan is:

1. To gather in an album with memories, all the information, and photos that exist about the persons buried in the Târgu Frumos Jewish Cemetery, including the 640 victims of the Holocaust,

2. To clean the cemetery of invasive vegetation, to find and arrange the tombstones.

3. To design a memorial museum, with paths, benches, information panels, and the stories of those who lived in Târgu Frumos, in a solemn atmosphere, and 640 trees, for each man whose body was thrown in the common grave in Târgu Frumos, in the summer of 1941.

4. To organize commemorative and educational events and activities. A first example is a contest for students and young artists, to make art objects inspired by the history of the Jews of Târgu Frumos. These objects will be placed on the cemetery grounds, in a permanent exhibition, together with information panels. It is also important to facilitate educational activities and events for young people and vulnerable children in the area surrounding the cemetery. It would be ideal to arrange a gazebo in the cemetery, where these activities will take place.

5. To get the status of a historical monument for the Jewish Memorial Open-Air Museum of Târgu Frumos. This will contribute to its long-term preservation of it.