The European Commission has launched a new project in efforts to protect Jewish cemeteries in Central and Eastern Europe. The project involves a new preparatory action undertaken by a consortium led by the ESJF European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative together with the foundation for Jewish Heritage and Centropa. This initiative has been awarded a grant of 1.2 million euros and is the first concrete action of the EU’s Strategy for Combatting Antisemitism and Fostering Jewish Life. It represents a continuation of the two previous ESJF led pilot projects also funded by the Commission from 2018-20 and 2020-21.

While the previous pilot projects focused primarily on surveying and mapping over 3000 Jewish burial sites, the new preparatory action of  Jewish heritage NGOs will concentrate on local, regional, national and Pan-European stakeholder engagement. The results of this research, that can be found online through an open access database (https://www.esjf-surveys.org/surveys-map/), revealed the present condition of Jewish burial sites with 44% needing urgent protection.