Historic marker for state's first Jewish cemetery vandalized

Vandals damaged a state historic marker that pays tribute to the state's first Jewish cemetery. The marker is located at the corner of East Huron and Fletcher streets in Ann Arbor
















A historic marker that pays tribute to the state’s first Jewish cemetery was badly damaged over the weekend on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor.

U-M Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Diane Brown said a campus police officer on patrol noticed damage to the metal plaque about 2 a.m. Saturday.

“It appeared someone had attempted to pry off the plaque, and in the process snapped off the lower portion of the metal,” Brown said.

The plaque sits on the southwest corner of East Huron and Fletcher streets near the Rackham Graduate School. Police took the portion of the plaque that snapped off to the department and are storing it while they wait to hear if there is potential to repair it. “It’s too early to know,” Brown said.

Ann Arbor resident Helen Aminoff said her research into the first Jews of Ann Arbor uncovered the site’s history and led to the state to recognize it as the first Jewish cemetery in 1982. She noticed the damage to the plaque as she drove by on Huron Street Sunday morning and called police, she said.

“I don’t know whether it was just revelers on a Saturday night or an anti-Semitic act — who knows?” said Aminoff.

“They defaced the stone and damaged the university and state of Michigan property,” she said.

The long-time Ann Arbor resident began researching Jewish history in Ann Arbor after new occupants of an Ann Arbor fraternity house found an 1858 tombstone engraved with Hebrew script while cleaning the residence. In the fall of 1980, the fraternity members turned the discovery over to Beth Israel Congregation in Ann Arbor. The discovery inspired Aminoff's research and led to the publication of “The First Jews of Ann Arbor,” in 1983 by the Jewish Historical Society of Michigan.

Police do not have any suspects, Brown said. It could be that the vandals were attempting to take the metal for its perceived value.

“It’s difficult to know whether the people were interrupted and fled or they gave up because it was too hard, or they realized the metal didn’t have the value they anticipated and they simply quit,” Brown said.

It’s not clear what kind of metal is used for the plaque, but Brown said it is not copper or bronze.

According to the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, the cemetery was established between 1848 and 1849 when the Jews Society of Ann Arbor acquired burial rights to the land, which was next to what was a public cemetery.

In prior years, German and Austrian immigrants began the first Jewish community in the state, holding religious services in the homes of the five Weil brothers.

The original Jewish community no longer existed by the 1880s, and in 1900, the remains of those buried were reinterred to Ann Arbor’s Forest Hill Cemetery, according to the housing development authority’s description of the site.