Sacred Ground on de la Savane
At the turn of the 20th century, more Jewish immigrants were arriving in Montreal than anywhere else on the continent, and the city’s small, middle-class Jewish community suddenly had to meet the burial needs of many new, mostly poor, arrivals, who had little affiliation with the local congregations. Out of this crisis, the Baron de Hirsch Cemetery, one of Canada’s largest Jewish cemeteries, was established on an undeveloped expanse of swampland in the heart of the city.
Published to mark the cemetery’s centennial, Sacred Ground on de la Savane traces the growth of the many burial societies that make up the cemetery and explains how the institution tackles issues all Jewish cemeteries must face: security, burial rituals, modern management techniques, and monument repair. Sacred Ground on de la Savane is illustrated with archival photos and a 12-page duotone portfolio of photographs by D.R. Cowles.
An award-winning Montreal journalist, Danny Kucharsky has written on staff and as a freelancer for over fifty magazines, newspapers and travel books in Canada and the United States.
D.R. Cowles
Born in Boston, D.R. Cowles moved to Montreal in 1976 where he studied European and Jewish history at Concordia University. He has made numerous trips to North Africa to document remaining Jewish sites (synagogues, cemeteries, and shrines) in Morocco, Egypt, and Tunisia. He also photographed Islamic sites, traditional Moroccan architecture, Roman ruins, and North African landscapes. Cowles’ work is represented in numerous collections including the National Gallery of Canada, the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, the Canadian Centre for Architecture, the Tel Aviv Museum, and the Jewish Museum of Casablanca.
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