Mourning Shroud for the Jungfernhof Concentration Camp

Lead Artist Karen Frostig with Ed Malouf, Jennifer Varekamp, and Emily Moughan (2024). Cloth embroidered and printed. 96” x 144.”

A large-scale mourning shroud honors 3985 victims, who were imprisoned at the Jungfernhof concentration camp, between 1941-1944. Most captives were killed at this camp, or in the massacre taking place at the Bikernieki Forest, or in transfers to other nearby camps. Only 149 survived. The mourning shroud was introduced to participating audiences at the “Day of Remembrance” program, a two-day multi-media event taking place at Brandeis University in Waltham, MA, on April 9 & 10, 2024. The Mourning Shroud for mass graves is a new idea modeled after mourning shrouds within Jewish liturgy, regarding traditional burial practices for deceased members of the community. Developed as a commemorative object made from cloth, the shroud was printed and embroidered with 3,836 names of murdered victims, embellished with Jewish symbols of strength and remembrance, and surrounded by fauna referencing Latvia’s natural environment.

Cantor Alicia Stillman of Temple Israel of Boston joined Karen Frostig, to co-lead a multifaceted ceremony that included music, poetry, and the reading of names. Rabbi Benjamin Chaidall of Temple Beth Israel in Waltham recited the mourner’s kaddish for close to 4,000 forgotten souls.

Carrying the Mourning Shroud into public space, 30 descendants led an outdoor procession into a nearby courtyard. Descendants joined by members of the Brandeis community and local residents, placed the shroud onto a patch of land, enabling the shroud to make contact with the earth as a gesture of healing. A small container of earth collected at the Jungfernhof camp site by Ilya Lensky, was transported to Brandeis. Raising the shroud above our heads, descendants sprinkled earth transported from the forgotten site of murder to mingle with land in Waltham, freshly imbued with ideas about remembrance. The earth from Junfernhof would remain on the land as a trace of memory as we returned the shroud to the inside space.

It is my expectation, that a memorial will be built at the Jungfernhof concentration camp in the near future. During a groundbreaking ceremony, the shroud will be used to cover an area of earth at the Jungfernhof site, containing one or more mass graves. Inscribed with the text “May their memory be a blessing” translated into four languages, the shroud will consecrate the land, preparing the earth for memorial development.

Photo credit: Mike E. Dunne