Today, the ESJF moved a 1 tonne tombstone 17km across Ukraine to Babyn Yar under the request of the local Jewish community.

The matzevah is thought to originally be from an old Jewish cemetery (exact cemetery unknown), which was demolished. According to a local old lady, a crane operator and his friend, a dump truck driver, decided to take it. The purpose of this remains unknown. It eventually was placed at Metrologichana street in Kyiv in the 1970s.

The epitaph reads: “A highly honoured person lies here Mendel, son of Binyamin Dolbir. Died September 8, 1910. Let his soul be bound in the knot of life.”

After a long day of hard work, the matzevah has now been returned to the edge of the Babyn Yar Jewish cemetery. A big thanks to the ESJF team who made this happen as well as all who helped us in this difficult and strenuous task, in particular Yevsey Levbarg.