Today our Museum received gifts from Volodymyr-Volynskyi. Mr. Volodymyr Muzychenko, well-known local historian, cultural and public figure from Volyn, sent us matsevs (tombstones) which in Soviet times were taken by local residents from Jewish burial places and turned into household tools: millstones or whetstones (circles). After World War II and the Holocaust, abandoned Jewish cemeteries became looted by the local population, often with the assistance or tacit consent of the Soviet government, which continued the Nazi idea of destroying the Jewish people, if not physically, but erasing all traces of this culture, national identity and human dignity. Matsevs were used not only for domestic needs, but also as building materials for foundations or roads.
These are not the first gifts from Mr. Volodymyr, and we are very grateful to him for them, for the memory that he helps us to preserve.
Soon these stones will take their proper place in the museum exhibition.