Cemetery

KARNOBAT ABANDONED CEMETERY

The largest Jewish necropolis in Bulgaria was created by the Jews of Karnobat, who had lived in the town since the 16th century, and of neighbouring cities who would burry their dead here. 

It used to contain over 1,000 tombstones. The earliest dates back to 1686 and the newest ones are from the 1912-1913 Balkan Wars and the First World War. 

Unless you have a knowledgeable local guide, it can be difficult to find the remnants of Karnobat's Jewish cemetery. It is situated on a slope on the outskirts of the Galata neighbourhood, whose official name is Krasno Selo. You are advised to visit in dry weather because rain and snow can make the whole ravine prohibitively muddy. 

Barking sheep dogs, some of which are kept unleashed, can also be a problem. 

Karnobat Jewish Cemetery

Once you negotiate the pitfalls and reach the ridge, you will be rewarded with a surreal sight. The whole side of the hill is covered with hundreds of large and small reclining tombstones. Years ago many of them were cleaned up when some historical research was done, but most are now overgrown with vegetation. Many cannot be seen at all, unless viewed from close up. Flocks of sheep, and sometimes pigs, will be your companions throughout. 

Some of the tombstones imitate sarcophagi, others are just slabs covering the graves. Many of the marble tombstones have been purloined by locals over the past several decades. What remains now are mostly granite and sandstone tombstones. 

Walking through them is like holding a meeting with several generations of Karnobat Jews. Brush aside the grass covering them and you will see Hebrew and Ladino epitaphs, as well as images recreating, at least partially, the life of those buried beneath. The local masons developed an intricate system of symbols to represents the sex and occupation of the dead. The graves of many women bear children's cribs, tambours and embroidery threads, while the men have scissors and hammers, parchment scrolls and ink-bottles with quills. 

Karnobat Jewish Cemetery

The peace and tranquillity of the site does not hide the fact that this is one of the most mercilessly vandalised Jewish cemeteries in Bulgaria. Having ignored it for years, the locals then started plundering its tombstones to use in the construction of sheep pens and pigsties. 

The local climate also plays a role in the general dilapidation of Karnobat's Jewish cemetery. The soil has begun to slide down towards a seasonal brook, causing some tombstones to tumble downhill, ending up in some cases several metres from the graves they used to cover. 

JEWISH CEMETERY, SHUMEN

The largest Jewish remnant in Shumen is its cemetery. It was used in the period 1879-1964 and contains about 650 graves. 

The Jewish cemetery has been repeatedly vandalised. In 2008 some tombstones were sprayed with Nazi swastikas. About 30 stones were toppled and broken. The local police declared it was not an antisemitic attack, but just hooliganism perpetrated by youths who could not be prosecuted because they were underage. The cemetery is fenced and locked, but antisemitic signs continue to appear periodically, most recently in 2020.

ABANDONED SYNAGOGUE, SAMOKOV

In 1857-1860 the Samokov Jews built a new, modern synagogue. It was a large building, at 330 square metres, and was 8 metres tall, with 38 windows. Accounts of who built it vary. According to some archives, it was erected by Edirne workers commissioned by the wealthy Arie family. Another theory is that the synagogue was built by local craftsmen. It appears that the same builders also worked on the impressive Bayrakli Mosque, in the middle of town. 

In 1965 it was listed as a cultural monument and there were plans to convert it into a concert hall. Restoration work started but it ended abruptly as a result of a fire in 1975. 

Ignored and abandoned, the building fell into disrepair. At the beginning of the 1990s it was returned to the Shalom Organisation of Bulgarian Jews, but in 2018 the organisation transferred the property rights to Samokov City Council on the grounds that it would restore it and turn it into a culture centre. So far little has been done. 

The synagogue is currently inaccessible, at least in theory. It is cordoned off with a fence, but it is an easy matter to jump over and enter its large, derelict hall. 

An incredible, restored wood-carved ceiling with a huge Star of David hangs above your head. A faded fresco depicting the Holy Land adorns the wall, complemented by unspeakable graffiti spray-painted by locals. 

Samokov synagogue marks the location of the town's Jewish neighbourhood in the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. In the following decades the abandoned temple has survived a fire, a robbery and multiple cases of vandalism.

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. 

FORMER SEPHARDI SYNAGOGUE, VARNA

The Sephardi synagogue, known to most citizens of Varna simply as the "Large Synagogue," was erected in 1890. Its architecture is the typical mixture of Neoclassical and Moorish styles, which was very popular at the time. 

Situated right behind the Neo-Baroque building of the Admiralty House, the current General Staff of the Bulgarian Navy, the Sephardi Synagogue (on the intersection of Pres- byter Kozma and Vardar streets) was off limits for most of the second half of the 20th century. Next door to it, the house of the Sephardi rabbi was used by military intelligence. Now the fence around the former synagogue is gone, but its roof has already collapsed, trees sprout inside its interior, and it is doubtful whether the fine late-19th century structure can ever be restored. The courts returned the rabbinical house to the Jewish community but the military refused to vacate it, citing reasons of national security. In 2017 plans to restore the building into a cultural centre were unveiled but so far these have stalled. 

JEWISH CEMETERY, VARNA

Varna has a functioning Jewish cemetery, which is a part of the Central City Cemetery, sometimes called the "Old Cemetery". It has about 400 graves and a non-functioning chel. Most of the graves are in good condition but some of them are overgrown with vegetation. 

In the 1930s, however, this was the "New Cemetery." The old "Old Cemetery" was by the sea. It was demolished to make room for the city's famous Maritime Garden. 

Most of the remains of the Jews buried there were transferred to the Old-New Cemetery, but some were not – and their names were in- scribed on a special wall next to the chel. 

JEWISH CEMETERY, PLOVDIV

The old Jewish cemetery, like the cemeteries of all other minority groups in Plovdiv, was destroyed in the first years after 1878 when a new urban plan for Plovdiv was adopted. Since then Jews have used a section of the municipal cemetery. It is next to the walled-off and largely abandoned Turkish cemetery. It is unfenced and unguarded, but its north side has been protected by a brick wall, erected by Shalom, to separate it from a local Gypsy settlement. Most of the marble and granite tombstones are still standing but some have been vandalised.

PLEVEN JEWISH CEMETERY

Pleven, in northern Bulgaria, had a Jewish community since at least the Middle Ages. When the Hungarians overtook Vidin in 1376 many Vidin Jews departed and settled in Pleven to join the well-established local community consisting of both Sephardis and Romaniotes. In 1470 they were joined by a number of Ashkenazis fleeing persecution in Bavaria. The mixed community quarrelled about their rites and customs. The conflict was put down by Yosef Karo who persuaded the Pleven Jews to adopt the traditions of the Sephardis, who were the majority. A century later the Jews emerged as the second largest minority in Pleven. They are said to have had four synagogues at the end of the 17th century. Now all that remains of Pleven's Jewish heritage is a cemetery located off the road to Radishevo. This is where Chelibon Grasiani, one of the Jews who fought on the Russian side in the 1877-1878 Russo-Turkish War, was buried. The site has been encroached upon by developments. 

PAZARDZHIK JEWISH CEMETERY

Pazardzhik has a large Jewish cemetery, situated at the northeastern entrance of the town. It has two sections, separated from the rest of the Pazardzhik Central Cemetery by a fence. The old section contains over 700 mainly 19th century tombstones with inscriptions in Hebrew and Bulgarian. The new section was opened in 1991 and is still in use.