We next headed for Guanabacoa, a town about 12 miles east of Havana. The Jewish community has two cemeteries in Guanabacoa. The Cementerio de la Union Hebrea Chevet Ahim for Sephardic Jews and the Cemeterio de la Comunidad Religiosa Ebrea Adath Israel for the Ashkenazim. It was founded in 1906 and is also called the “United Hebrew Congregation Cemetery.” People enter the cemetery by walking under a Spanish colonial gate with a Star of David that was erected in 1910. As you enter to the left of the gate is a small memorial to the Holocaust.

Entrance gate to United Hebrew Congregation Cemetery Inscription on base of Holocaust Memorial

Holocaust Memorial

The inscription on the memorial is:

Knowing what was buried there really shocked me and it still does.

We all said Kaddish in front of the memorial at this cemetery and the one in Santa Clara as well.

UNITED HEBREW CONGREGATION CEMETERY

At this point we have basically completed our mission. All the hundreds of bags of supplies were delivered to their designated recipients. It is now time to discover more of this amazing country.