The European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative (ESJF) has been awarded a grant of €800,000 (£720,000) by the EU for a major project to map and survey at least 1,500 Jewish cemeteries in Eastern Europe.
The project, which is set to begin later this month, will begin its focus in five countries; Greece, Slovakia and Lithuania within the EU, and Ukraine and Moldova outside the bloc.
The ESJF said it would undertake the mapping process “using state of the art technology specially designed for the project… engineering drones surveying and photographing the sites from the air, following an in-depth historical research process of centuries–old records across many countries and languages.”
It also said it planned to form “strong collaborations with local and regional governments as well as the local population through awareness raising campaigns and educational programmes”, initiatives which it described as “mandatory for the prevention of desecration of the holy burial sites.”
