New Holocaust memorial and garden unveiled at Bushey New Cemetery

The United Synagogue has unveiled a new Holocaust memorial and garden in Bushey New Cemetery in Hertfordshire.

160 people attended a consecration service led by the Chief Rabbi, with more than a dozen Holocaust survivors and their families present.

The service was conducted by Dayan Menachem Gelley, the Rosh Beth Din of the London Beth Din, Rabbi Pinchas Hackenbroch, Chair of the Rabbinical Council of the United Synagogue, Dayan Ivan Binstock, Senior Rabbi of St John’s Wood United Synagogue and Chazan Jonny Turgel of Stanmore and Canons Park United Synagogue.

In his address to those present, the Chief Rabbi said: “What makes this matzeiva (tombstone) different to all other matzeivas? On all others matzeivas, the key feature is a name, the person who passed away. But on this matzeiva there are no names. On all other matzeivas, there are names of relatives who mourn the loss of a loved one. But on this matzeiva, the entire Jewish people mourns the loss of the people buried here: six precious individuals, five adults and one child whom we buried four years ago and for whom we are unveiling a matzeiva today, some three generations after they were brutally murdered. It could have been any of our relatives.”

The Chief Rabbi also thanked all the Holocaust survivors present “for the ongoing inspiration they provide to us all and of British society always.”

Michael Helfgott told mourners about the lives of Sam and Sonja Frieman and why Sam was so keen to see a Holocaust memorial built at Bushey New Cemetery to provide a place to mourn for those who don’t know where there loved ones were murdered.

Jacqui Zinkin, Chair of the United Synagogue Burial Society, said: “There is a widespread custom for Jewish cemeteries to have a Holocaust memorial and on Sunday we were able to honour this custom with a beautiful new memorial and garden to provide a permanent space for contemplation and reflection, to honour the six million and provide a place to mourn for so many of us who lost loved ones in the Shoah but do not know where they died or don’t have a grave to care for.

“We are honoured to call it the Sam and Sonja Frieman Holocaust Memorial and Garden. We were only able to build such a magnificent memorial and garden thanks to a very generous legacy donation by Holocaust survivor Sam Freiman and his wife Sonja.

“Sam and Sonja were members of the 45 Aid Society and Richmond United Synagogue and on behalf of the United Synagogue, I would like to place on record our thanks to the executors of Sam’s Will – Michael Helfgott, Robert Bieber and Paul Lawrence – who have worked closely with us during the pandemic on the design and execution of this important project.”

In an impromptu address, Holocaust survivor Harry Olmer took to the microphone to tell those gathered about his friend Sam Frieman, how much the memorial meant to him and how Harry was with him in his dying days and said the ‘Shema’ together with him.

The memorial has been built around the grave of the six Kedoshim (Holocaust victims) buried by the United Synagogue in a unique funeral conducted by the Chief Rabbi at Bushey New Cemetery in January 2019.

The victims – which DNA testing revealed to be five adults and one child – were murdered in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Their remains had been collected from Birkenau by a Holocaust survivor who returned there some years ago and entrusted them to the Imperial War Museum.

The memorial is open to the public during regular cemetery opening hours.