While the exact date of the cemetery’s establishment is unknown, Balyn itself has been home to a Jewish presence since the early 18th century, and the oldest preserved tombstone on the site dates to that era. When ESJF first visited the cemetery in 2019, as part of our European Commission-funded pilot project, “Protecting the Cemeteries of Europe”, the section containing the oldest burials was found to be severely overgrown and at risk of disappearance.

In 2021 ESJF with the support of Geder Avos and American Jewish philanthropic organizations cleared the site, demarcated the boundaries, and erected a fence around the cemetery.

click to view larger images: