Old Jewish Cemetery, Rezekne, Latgale, Latvia

Notes:
Photos of the Jewish Cemetery in Rezekne, Latvia taken by Dave Howard
October 30, 2003
Click on Small Photo to see Larger Version

My guide, Aleksandrs Feigmanis, took me to the old Jewish cemetery in Rezekne, Latvia. He reminded me that this cemetery had gone through two world wars and most of the Jewish population has changed from a majority of the people a hundred years ago to a handful now. As we walked around the cemetery he was looking for headstones with either of the two family names that we know of: Gurevich (Horwitz) and Ioffe (Yaffa). Whenever he saw one of these names on a headstone he pointed it out and I took a picture. We only spent about an hour here. Aleksandrs has on another occasion spent a long time here copying information. It would be a great family history project to come here with a group of people and clean things up and copy the information from the stones.

Cemetery Photos

	Thumb	Description
1		Horwitz Family Member
2		Horwitz Family Member
3		Horwitz Family Member
4		Horwitz Family member
5		Old Entrance to Rezekne Jewish Cemetery - Aleksandrs Feigmanis Aleksandrs Feigmanis was my guide through the town of Rezkene. Here he is next to the old entrance to the cemetery. The Old Catholic Basilica can be seen in the background.
6		Old Original Entrance to Rezekne Jewish Cemetery Original entrance to cemetery on the northwest end. The entrance now is at the other end. The fellow in the photo is Dave Howard. The Roman Catholic Basilica can be seen through the gates.
7		Rezekne Jewish Cemetery - Roadside This farmer is plowing his field the old fashion way just along the way to the cemetery.
8		Rezekne Jewish Cemetery - Holocaust memorial near the new entrance.
9		Rezekne Jewish Cemetery - Stones falling over Many of the stones are only set in the soil. Over time they topple over. The softer stones lose surface material in the cold winters.
10		Rezekne Jewish Cemetery - View towards north Another view toward the north. See the shadow from the sun. The gully is on the left (west).
11		Rezekne Jewish Cemetery - Newer Southwestern End
12		Rezekne Jewish Cemetery - Sad Condition
13		Rezekne Jewish Cemetery - Stones under weeds
14		Rezekne Jewish Cemetery - View towards east
15		Rezekne Jewish Cemetery - North View The cemetery is about 50 yards wid and 300 hundred yards long. There is a creek in a deep gully on the western side (to the left in this photo).
16		Rezkene Jewish Cemetery - View towards south Here is looking back the other way toward the south. Now the gully is on the right. There are graves all up the hill on the left.
17		View of Rezekne through the gates of the Jewish Cemetery.
18		Yaffa/Iofa/Jaffe Family Member - Aleksandrs Feigmanis' back
19		Yaffa/Iofa/Jaffe Family Member
20		Yaffa/Iofa/Jaffe Family Member