There are up to a dozen monuments of Jewish culture in the city of Khmelnytsky, cared for by the Khmelnytsky Hesed Besht Charitable Foundation. Despite the favorable situation in the city and region in terms of tolerance, however, you have to think about preserving these objects all the time. Ironically, the most unpleasant surprises happen at the most inopportune time.
On Tuesday, 16 September, Khmelnytsky Hesed Besht Charitable Foundation Celebrates Fifteenth Anniversary. It was a citywide event at the Regional Music and Drama Theater. Representatives of the authorities headed by the governor and the mayor of Khmelnytsky came here, representatives of many national associations and public organizations. Eloquent words of friendship were heard from the stage, tolerance and mutual understanding.
And by morning it became known about another "gift" of our organization and the entire Jewish community. At the Memorial to the Victims of the Proskuriv Ghetto, where buried 8200 innocent victims, the gate was broken.
In the morning 17 September, Information Manager Vyacheslav Nagnybida arrived at the Memorial to take a photo of the event. One of the two sections of the gate had by then hung helplessly on two of the four screws, which were screwed into a monolithic concrete arch. For, it took a lot of effort to pull the wicket out of the concrete, which someone still applied. Also on the territory of the memorial was found a garbage bag with bottles of alcoholic beverages of varying strength.
At first glance, it looked like a typical hooligan prank: in addition to the indicated facts, no new acts of vandalism were found. But subsequent events shed a lot of light on the events at the monument.
A black foreign road car was parked near the arch. A middle-aged woman was sitting in it, wishing to remain anonymous. A conversation ensued between her and the manager, during which the woman represents the position of some residents of nearby private homes. By the way, in this part of the suburbs land is distributed among wealthy citizens. As it turned out, things at the memorial are getting worse, than the Foundation thinks. Proximity to the recreational area, which is a continuation of the Arboretum, causes frequent visits of intoxicated vacationers to the memorial. They bring garbage with them, bottles and other holiday attributes, which immediately leave. But private sector residents are cleaning up on their own, as their civil position and high moral qualities do not allow to stay away from these problems.
During the conversation, the woman really took the package with bottles found in the morning in the trunk of her car.. According to her and observations, it was clear, that the number of unidentified volunteers from the locals reaches 5-6 male.
This conversation was a real surprise for an employee of the Hesed Besht Foundation, also very nice. The woman also explained, that the gate was broken from Saturday to Sunday (with 13 on 14 September), which breaks the possible connection between hooliganism and the celebration of the anniversary of the Foundation. She also spoke of wanting to tell someone about the broken gate, but did not know, where to go. Now the volunteers have a number to contact the Hesed Besht office..
The unpleasant fact of vandalism unexpectedly gave the Foundation's staff an unexpected "gift": it turns out, there are people, who are self-employed in the care of the Jewish monument. This fact has already been brought up for discussion by the organization's council, and now employees are considering a strategy to work with these people. After all, good cannot go unnoticed. Especially, when it comes from a caring heart. And as for the gate – it took a little cement to repair it 15 minutes of time.