JEWISH TOMBSTONES, YAMBOL

Not far from the border with Turkey, Yambol used to be a thriving Jewish centre. Now there are only a few Jewish families left. The town had a large synagogue which ceased being a house of prayer when most of the town's Jews left in the 1940s. 

Yambol has a small Jewish section in the town's municipal cemetery but the really interesting experience comes in the municipal park, situated on an island in the Tundzha river. Walk to its outer reaches, off the path at the back of the tennis courts and the sports hall, into the part known as the Komsomolets, or Communist Youth, sports site. There, in the thick of the trees, you will see two marble Jewish tombstones, with exquisite Hebrew writing on them. The story of these two tombstones is as remarkable as the story of Bulgaria's Jewry as a whole. 

At the beginning of the 20th century, the old Jewish cemetery used to be located on the Tundzha island. In the 1930s, however, the city council decided to turn the island into a park and most of the tombstones were relocated to an area now occupied by a major shopping centre. Many were given away to local butchers and fishermen to be used as chopping blocks in their shops. These two remained in situ, a quiet if somewhat sombre testament to Yambol's Jewish heritage.