![\"Zilina](\"http:\/\/norwitz.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Zilina-Cem-Ent-P1000782.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nI visited the very well-kept \u017dilina cemetery in May 2017.\u00a0 At the entrance are two framed maps of the cemetery, painstakingly hand drawn to scale, each grave listed with the name found on the headstone.\u00a0 This document is my transcription of these maps.<\/p>\n
The cemetery is divided into 4 blocks and each block has multiple numbered rows.\u00a0 Using the same orientation as the map, we have:<\/p>\n
The first map shows blocks 2 and 1 and the second map shows blocks 4 and 3.\u00a0 For the transcription, I’ve preserved the map order by block (2, 1, 4, 3).\u00a0 Then I have done each row, which all go from front to rear (left to right).\u00a0 Within the rows, the transcription goes from top to bottom.<\/p>\n I guarantee you there are errors.\u00a0 First of all, as careful as the mapmaker was, there are errors in the documents.\u00a0 Then there are my errors.\u00a0 Some are ordinary mistakes but others come because the maps can be confusing.\u00a0 Because the graves span a large period of time, there are differences in how names appear.\u00a0 In some, women’s surnames have “ova” on the end.\u00a0 In most, they do not.\u00a0 Some graves give the maiden name for married women and these may or may not be on the map, but aren’t indicated as such, so I had to guess (many women may be listed with their maiden names).\u00a0 Some women had no given names on the map (they may or may not be on the stones) but were “Pani” (“Mrs.”) with their husband’s names.<\/p>\n One common practice for stones made during or just after the Holocaust was to include the names of family members who died in the Shoah and could not be buried.\u00a0 The map includes these but it’s unclear at times which name is that of the person buried there and also which surname belongs to which given name.\u00a0 It’s clear on the graves but the map had limited space to work with.<\/p>\n Some of my photos have blurry parts and some of the handwriting on the maps is unclear (though most is impeccable).\u00a0 Unfortunately, some of the graves are so old that the information on the stones is lost forever.\u00a0 A large percentage of graves have “not given” for the surname and\/or given name.\u00a0 These were blank (or numbered) on the map.\u00a0 In some cases, the grave was not used but, for most of these entries, the headstones are just so worn that there is nothing left to read.\u00a0 I don’t know if the cemetery has this information in their books.<\/p>\n Yes I did walk the entire cemetery while I was there.\u00a0 Mostly it’s easy to navigate with clear rows.\u00a0 In some places the rows are narrow and crooked and it’s not always clear which row a grave belongs to (my choices from those sections may not always match what the mapmaker intended, or what the cemetery records show).\u00a0 I took many photos, but only of graves with surnames from my family or those of my cousins who accompanied me on the trip.\u00a0 I have not matched these photos with the information the maps.\u00a0 My transcriptions are solely of the maps.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nThere will be errors!!<\/h3>\n