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World Jewish News
Ataky Expatriates Aid Hometown Cemetary
22.04.2009
An abandoned Jewish cemetery in the northern part of Moldova was taken care of by the Association of Ataky expatriates in Israel.
On the Day of Holocaust and Heroism of European Jewry, the residents of Ataky have a place to go to remember the murdered - to the old Jewish cemetery, where 3,580 Jews are buried, and to the monument to the Holocaust martyrs.
Two years ago, it was decided to erect a monument here to the fellow countrymen who had died during the Holocaust. The local population owes this decision to the Association of Ataky expatriates in Israel, which numbers 115 friendly and conscientious people. Residing in Israel, they have not forgetten about the ancestors - in these difficult for Moldova years, they aim at taking care of memorable places in their native town.
Having visited the former home and the cemetery, abandoned for 70 years now, they have engaged in its reconstruction and recovery. Within three years they managed to bring order. Since then, the last haven of Ataky residents has been properly maintained.
But the Association was able to achieve more than that: in its headquarters in Tel Aviv, there is already a Wall of Memory. It contains the names of the dead Ataky residents, whose burial places have not yet been identified.
These names are also carved on the obelisk that was erected by members of the Association at the cemetery in Holon. Each year in April, people gather around it for a mourning meeting.
The Association has prepared and produced a documentary film "Ataky-2005" and sent it to research institutions which deal with the history of the Holocaust.
Also, it has published two books of collected memories of people about the way of life of Jews in Ataky, its educational, cultural and religious institutions, the pre-war economic prosperity, based on the production of oil,
sugar, leather working and stone extraction.
All this disappeared with the expulsion and extermination of Jews in the years 1940-1943.
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