Poletown's
Beth Olem
A novel partnership saved one
of Detroit's oldest Jewish cemeteries
NATHAN D. RUBENSTEIN
Special to The Jewish News
aside of the two 15-foot-
high steel fences sur-
rounding the $750 million
General Motors Poletown plant
in Detroit and Hamtramck lies
the 2.6 acre Beth Olem
Cemetery. In earlier times it
was called the Smith Street
Cemetery. Poletown's long line
of sand-colored buildings,
resembling a modern-day for-
tress, is located on a bluff
overlooking General Motors
Boulevard. It stands as the
robot-oriented guardian of the
125-year-old burial ground
housing 1,100 graves dating
back to 1871.
Beth Olem, whose name
translates as "The house of the
People," is today an oasis of
shaded trees and greenery that
the combined might of city,
state and industry could not
move in fulfilling General
Motors request for 465 acres of
land. The dictum of Jewish law
that prohibits the removal of
bodies prevailed. Today, Beth
Olem remains the only proper-
ty to escape the wrecker's ball
and bulldozers that levelled
Poletown in 1982.
I
A Jewish cemetery .
and General Motors.
The first deed to the cemetery
is dated Feb. 5, 1862 and was
assigned to two residents of
Detroit's JewiSh community of
less than 1,000 people. In 1872,
they were joined in partnership
with a small synagogue owning
an adjacent strip of land. In
1886, Cong. Shaarey Zedek add-
ed a third parcel. Shaarey Zedek
is now the sole owner.
The years 1880-1896 recorded
a major influx of Jews from
Eastern and Southern Europe to
Detroit. By 1915, Detroit's
Jewish population reached
35,000 with the heaviest concen-
The auto plant looms over the old cemetery's wall.
tration in the Eastern Market
area and adjacent
neighborhoods. Beth Olem
became the burial ground for
many of the residents. The long
trips through miles of farmland
soon changed from travelling by
horse-drawn, windowed hearses
to motorized vehicles.
The tranquillity was of short
duration. In 1922, Hamtramck,
by then Beth Olem's official
home, became a full-fledged ci-
ty. Two years later the
3,000,000-square-foot. Dodge
Main Plant emerged. The once
quiet farmland surrounding
Beth Olem exploded into an in-
dustrial complex thereafter
known as Poletown. Bars and
businesses became Beth Olem's
neighbors and mourners found
access to the cemetery a difficult
task.
In 1948, as the cemetery fill-
ed to capacity, and with other
Jewish burial grounds emerg-
ing, Beth Olem closed its doors
to the dead. With gates gradual-
ly obscured by trees and under-
brush, the cemetery lost not on-
ly purpose but identity. Only a
dwindling number of people
remembered its location.
Now a designated historical
site, the first proposals of
unlimited visitation have
dwindled to two days during the
year: before Passover and bet-
ween the High Holy Days. Ex-
act times are available through
the Clover Hill Park Cemetery
management.
Shaarey Zedek remains com-
mitted to the care of the inside
of the brick walled cemetery,
and General Motors to the
maintenance of the surrounding
area. It is an effective but most
unusual partnership.
Bob McKeown
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
27