Mount Hope Holocaust Archive

The Holocaust is the name given to the systematic extermination of nearly six million Jews that was perpetrated by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II. The Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery wish to create an appropriate way to memorialize those individuals who survived or died in the Holocaust and are buried in Mount Hope Cemetery. The FOMH formed a Holocaust Committee in the spring of 2021 with the following charge:

• Determine the number of Holocaust survivors buried at Mount Hope
• Create a Holocaust Archive of survivors’ stories on the FOMH website
• Raise funds to erect a Holocaust Monument at Mount Hope

Using the resources available from the Center for Holocaust Awareness and Information (CHAI) of the Jewish Community Federation, cross-referenced with the burial records of Mount Hope Cemetery, the committee compiled an initial list of about 40 names to include in the Friends of Mount Hope Holocaust Archive. After extensive research, the Holocaust Committee has now identified close to 100 survivors who are buried or remembered with cenotaphs in the cemetery. To tell their stories we either linked to an existing story in the CHAI Holocaust Archive or we have done our own research using available internet resources, original documents, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum database, the Yad Vashem database, and through family interviews. Each survivor is added to our Holocaust Archive as their story becomes available.  Each person is listed with their full name(s), birth and death dates, locale of death, images of gravestone or cenotaphs, and burial locations in the cemetery.

The final charge to the Committee was fulfilled through a fund-raising campaign that ran from January to April of 2022.  One hundred thirty-one generous donors and organizations contributed over $34,000 for the monument and accompanying educational programs. A complete list of donors is available. The monument is expected to be completed by November 2022 and will have an installation and dedication ceremony in May 2023.