International Jewish Cemetery Project - Argentina
One of four towns (Jacinto Arauz, General San Martin, Villa Iris) with Jewish history in SE La Pampa Province, 850 or 733 km from Buenos Aires, population fell when the railroad, opened in 1891, closed. The 1939 population was 2,800; 2000 population was 1,200 (about 120 Jewish.) The Jewish presence and settlement (Romualdo and Pedro Nieves) date from 1888. In 1909, 1,374 settlers came to occupy 46,466 hectares. Their colony, with high fluoride content in the water, was called Colony Narcisse Leven and the La Esmeralda. [December 2003]
- El Cementerio del Lote 12: Six km from Bernasconi. Go south to 2nd Street and west at the first crossroads. Over 1 hectare with over 400 graves, the well-kept cemetery is still active. A monument to the 50th anniversary of Colony Narcisse Leven separates the men and women's sections. About thirty graves are at the back, children and babies divided by gender. A Holocaust Memorial also exists. The oldest grave dates from 1909. Darragueyra, 70 km from Bernasconi, and Arauz also used this cemetery. The last burials were in the 1990s. [December 2003]
- El Cementerio de Lote 22: 40 km from Bernasconi going south on 2nd Street. Mario Korsunsky (02925) 4-99215, Sebastian Glembotsky 4-00278, or Else Ludman 4-99359 will lead visitors to the almost impossible to find cemetery without a sign. This first Jewish cemetery in La Pampa Province is now inactive with only twelve tombstones remaining and riddled with vizcacha burrows. A gate held closed by a piece of wire is the entry. [December 2003]