|IARA: Cluj judet, Transylvania region,|
Located at 4633°23°31° in Cluj county, Transylvania region, 43 km from Cluj-Napoca. Alternate name: Also Jára in Hungarian. Iara cemetery is located at 3359 Iara, jud. Cluj, Romania. The present total town population is 5190 with no Jews.
Iara was an important 19th century economic center because its location near the mining area of the Western Carpathian Mountains. Before 1848, the Jews were not allowed to settle less than 7 miles from mining centers. The Jews of Iara were threatened all the time with expulsion, but their services as brandymakers and leaseholders were in the interest of the local landlords, making expulsions reversible. The Census of 1850 registered 2 Jews of a total present population of 646. The Census of 1857 registered 27 Jews of a total population of 1094; 1880 showed 49 Jews of 1445. In 1930, there were 76 Jews. The Jews were confined to May 1944 in the ghetto from Cluj and were deported to Auschwitz on May 25, 29, 3l and June 3, 8 and 9.
The Orthodox Jewish cemetery was established in the 19th century, 5 km away from other towns and villages that used it. The flat isolated suburban site, near the exit crossroad on the road to Cluj-Napoca, with no sign or marker is reached by turning directly off a public road, in a crossroad. It is open with permission and surrounded by a continuous fence and a gate that does not usually lock. The approximate size of cemetery before World War II and now is 955 sq.m. 49 gravestones, all in their original locations, are granite, limestone, and volcanic tuff flat shaped stones, finely smoothed and inscribed stones, or flat stones with carved relief decoration with Hebrew inscriptions. No known mass graves; no structures, or special sections. The oldest known gravestone is 19th century. The Federation of Jewish Communities of Romania owns and uses site only as a Jewish cemetery. Adjacent properties are agricultural, residential and two public roads. Compared to 1939, the cemetery boundaries enclose smaller area due to modernization of roads on two edges of cemetery. It is visited rarely by private visitors.
The cemetery may have been vandalized during the WW II. In 1994 the metal gate was stolen. Care has been clearing vegetation, fixing wall after 1970, and fixing gate after 1970 and after 1994 by Cluj-Napoca Jewish Community and annually after controls. The Cluj Jewish congregation pays the regular caretaker. . Incompaqtible nearby existing development, weather erosion, pollution, and vegetation are moderate threats. Trees extend on large parts of the cemetery; the caretaker is having a hard time getting rid of them. Now, I meet the caretaker when I visit the cemetery. The national road is on an edge of the cemetery so pollution can become a problem in the future.
Mircea-Sergiu Moldovan, PhD. Professor and Architect, str. Parîng, nr. 1, bl. A4, ap. 12, 3400 Cluj-Napoca, Romania, Ph.: 40-64-161261 Mircea-Sergiu Moldovan, PhD. Professor and architect, str. Parîng, nr. 1, bl. A4, ap. 12, 3400 Cluj-Napoca, Romania, Ph.: 40-64-161261 completed survey on May 13, 1999 after a visit on May 4. Gavrila Brata was interviewed on May 4, in Iara.