Special Tombstone Restorations
Since 2016, the Bialystok Cemetery Restoration Fund has restored over 3000 tombstones. While each tombstone is special, beginning in 2023, the BCRF Board sought to promote the restoration of tombstones with unique artistic qualities or those with historic significance beyond a tombstone’s ancestral value.
In 2023, a small Ashkenazi tombstone with exquisite traces of original paint was discovered by Dr. Tomasz Wisniewski, President of Bialystok’s Jewish Museum. Dr. Wisniewski was assisting BCRF volunteer and Bialystoker, Charles Cohn, who was searching for an ancestral tombstone. The rare paint traces that remained on this matzevah prompted the BCRF to contact the exceptional Warsaw stone conservator, Bartosz Markowski, who was also engaged in the restoration of the Memorial Pillar. Mr. Cohn financed the restoration of this precious tombstone. This stone is also unique because it preserved an inscription for a woman on its obverse side, being only the second such double-sided tombstone on Bagnowka. The exact identity of this woman is still under study.
The cost of this special restoration was $7000USD (+ US to Poland bank transfer fees). The program of restoration by Markowski explains why the cost is so high.
In 2024, BCRF crane crew, led by Josh Degen, discovered another extraordinary Ashkenazi tombstone buried beneath the collapsed ornamental register of a nearby tombstone. When that register was lifted and reset, a tombstone broken in four pieces though complete was revealed. As the crew turned over each piece, they discovered an exquisite ornamental register with a structure that represented a synagogue or beth midrash (house of study) atop an inscription for a woman! While at least two tombstones on Bagnowka bear images of a synagogue or beth midrash, neither is for a woman. This tombstone remembers a Malka, daughter of Shmuel, who died on 12 Elul 5660 [24 August 1900]. No surname was engraved but thanks to the archival research of Dr. Szpek and Frank Idzikowski, a death record for a Malka on this specific date was discovered. Thanks to Johanna Czaban, a Jewish heritage preservationist in Krynki, Poland, translation of the old Russian archival record was arranged. Malka’s full name is Malka Shmuelevna Poznyak. She was 50 years old, generous, and as her tombstone also noted, she died suddenly. Research for her identity and connection to a Bialystok synagogue or beit midrash is underway.
The cost of this special restoration was $7000USD (+ US to Poland bank transfer fees). This restoration was funded by the BCRF. The program of restoration will soon be available.
Donations can be made via this website to finance additional special tombstone restorations or to assist in the general operating budget of the BCRF. For more information, please contact Amy Halpern Degen bialystokcemeteryrestoration@gmail.com