December 15, 2024​​
As 2024 comes to a close, we are thrilled to report that this has been our biggest year of progress to date! By the end of this month, we will have completed almost 80,000 sq. meters in a year, equivalent to 20 acres, containing 25,891 graves across 9 sections. By way of comparison, our best year prior to this was 2022 when we completed 68,500 sq. meters with 21,873 graves. We have managed to do this with just one team but with an important splitting of the maintenance function. Without seeing it in person, it might be hard to imagine the sheer scale of what densely forested 20 acres and almost 26,000 graves looks like. Of course, this all happened while the maintenance work becomes larger and larger.
Looking at our primary “rescue work”, to date, we have managed to complete over 260,000 sq. meters (64 acres) across 33 sections containing 84,507 graves. This is 54% of our target in area and 63% in number of sections, so while we are very pleased about what has been done, the task ahead still remains a challenge.
At the same time, we have had to refine our plans on best practice to maintain the restored sections on an ongoing basis. While our new employee worked fairly well, we also learned some lessons on how to assure better productivity.
Never has our work felt more poignant. In a world of baseless hate and antisemitism, this cemetery, one of the two largest in the world, stands in powerful but quiet testimony to both the enormous contribution of Budapest’s Jews to their country as well as to the the loss that not only they but the entire country suffered when they persecuted them. Our mission is to ensure that even this reminder is not swallowed up by neglect. We hope governments and societies of our “developed” countries come to truly understand this lesson.
Wishing you and your family all the best for 2025. May it be a more peaceful and happy year for all of us.
Michael and Marc
2024 Summary:
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Renovated 9 sections that sum to 79,569 sq meters containing 25,891 graves. Includes 2 very large (38, 39), 3 medium (14, 20, 21) and 4 small sections (17A, 17C, 17D, C)
Thank you to the Sved family (Toronto) for sponsoring Section C, the Munk family (London) for sponsoring 14, the Strasser family (Sydney) for 17C and to the Graf family (Sydney) for 17D
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Incredible restoration of the badly dilapidated Greiner mausoleum
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Maintenance now encompasses a very large area; we have made some great strides but still experimenting with the best model
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Restoring many graves for descendants including some beautiful ones
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CALL TO ACTION: We know that many of you just responded to our recurring annual subscription request last week but for those who have not donated for the year, we request your participation by clicking on this link to our website:
https://www.budapestjewishcemetery.com/donate
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Please read further for details
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The following two pictures gives an aerial view of some of our achievement. The first is the cemetery in mid-2018 before our work commenced and the second is how it looked in March 2024. To the left, one sees the cemetery buildings and some open sections. To the right, it looks simply like a forest.
The second picture can be best looked at with our updated map. Even though it is missing 7 sections of our work from this year, we have marked these in blue. A careful look will show an enormous difference to 2018. Look what lies beneath the jungle. The pictures show a side view of the grounds so that the large open section on the right side of the this picture is Section 38A. The large blue square beneath it contains sections 38 and 39, a combined 33,000 m2 or over 8 acres with 11,214 graves
Our updated map: The areas shaded in pink are ones that we have finished. Progress is starting to look substantial!
Section 38
With an area of 17,166 sq meters (4 1/4 acres) and containing 5761 graves, it is the fourth largest in the cemetery.
Most of the graves are from 1931 - 1934.
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Rather than our usual “before” photos, here is something very touching. Some of our readers will remember the volunteer week we had in July 2021. We were working on painting row markers in Section 38 and one of the volunteers knew that her great-grandmother was buried in this section in row 17. The grave is toward the middle of the row and was buried under a waist-high mound of ivy, vines and a thick layer of mud. It took a little time to find it and then a lot more to lift decades of dirt and growth. Imagine doing this for over 5700 graves!Look at the pictures taken this week - what a difference! The stones on top of the grave in the fifth picture tell you it is being visited again.
Section 39: An incredibly dense jungle is open, once again.
On the heels of its neighbor Section 38, we decided to tackle another very large section at the back of the cemetery. There are 13 of these sections greater than 14,000 sq. meters ranging 3.5 - 4.5 acres in size. Section 39 is about 4 acres (15,800 m2) and contains 5453 graves mostly from 1928 - 1931In the first picture, one sees a side-on aerial view from newly cleaned Section 39 looking into Section 40. This is exactly how 39 looked before we went in.
Some before and after shots of 39. In the second set, you can see all the way down the road of the section to the back fence, a speck on the horizon. There are 88 rows along a distance of 220m. Please also note our new section sign which shows the direction of grave numbering, essential for navigation and inconsistent across sections
Section 17D is the last section we are working on in 2024. It is one of our smaller sections with an area of 5516 sq meters (1 1/3 acres) containing 1718 graves. It will be ready in the next 10 days and certainly before year-end. While not as densely overgrown as 38 and 39, entry was still difficult. With graves mostly from 1943 - 1951, it is still visited very frequently. Here are a few before photos and one from December 2nd, showing work underway
Section C
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This is very close to the front and frequently visited. It was not forested but it did have thick ivy and vines everywhere. As such, it is not a typical section we work on but at the family’s request we cleaned it thoroughly
The historically significant and beautiful Greiner Mausoleum
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Mausoleums are atypical in a Jewish cemetery but there are many examples in the assimilated communities of larger cities such as Budapest, Vienna and Berlin. This mausoleum from 1908 is a masterpiece of Bela Lajta (Leitersdorfer), one of the greats of the Hungarian Art Noveau movement, most active between 1900-1920. It is built from beautiful white marble with engraved motifs resembling nature while the memorial plaque is Swedish black granite. We found this monument in a very dilapidated condition, with an enormous tree growing through it. That tree alone took 3 days to take down and the stump another two days. It was our first renovation of a mausoleum. We would love to do more of these should descendants be interested. The preservation of one’s family history as well as significant architecture is a very important combination. The impact on the younger generations is often bigger than one would expect.
The Greiner family’s story is one that could be the story of so many families in the 19th and 20th centuries. We wrote about it in detail in our mid-year update and for sake of brevity, will not repeat it here. To our Australian readers, The Hon. Nick Greiner needs no introduction; to others, he was the equivalent of a state governor of New South Wales, the capital of which is Sydney. Beyond that, he played a very important role in the Liberal Party as well as a prominent figure in the business world. We were able to arrange an introduction. Mr Greiner was raised Catholic and knew nothing about this grave either but after a presentation on his Jewish roots, kindly agreed to pay for its entire renovation as well as the regular grave of another great-grandmother. The effect on younger generations is often understated. Mr Greiner’s grandson was in Budapest with friends on a university break and was visibly moved as well as impressed when coming to see it.
Here is the original in 1909
Grave Renovations
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A key advantage of re-opening sections is that visitors are once again able to visit the graves of family and friends. Many have reached out to us to help with either cleaning and/or repairs and we are happy to help facilitate it. Our mission is to preserve this incredible monument to the Jewish contribution to Hungary. Individual graves need some attention every 30 years or so, the granite one maybe every 40-50. The strains of the heavy overgrowth of vines and ivy has caused a lot of damage so whenever we can improve the look of the cemetery we are happy to help.
Please reach out to us at office@budapestjewishcemetery.com
Below are some examples of what has been done this year
