The Loneliest Jewish Graves in the World
A thousand miles away from the nearest Jewish community, in the far reaches of northeast China, seven Members of the Tribe found their final resting place
July 10, 2017
Creative Commons
In far northeast China there are seven graves next to the outer wall of a Czarist military cemetery, in what was once the naval base of Port Arthur—now called Lüshun City. The burials pre-date Russia’s loss of Port Arthur to the Japanese in 1905; they held it till 1945 when it was conquered by the Soviet Army. It did not revert to Chinese control until 1955, when it became a closed military area prohibited to foreign visitors until quite recently. Because of the angle of the sun I was only able to photograph two of the graves. The Hebrew carving on each of them is of a high quality, even though the nearest Jewish community was at least a thousand miles away—in Chita, in eastern Siberia. These are the loneliest Jewish graves in the world.
(Photo: Aimee Veneau)
