GM security guards have been watching over Beth Olem since the
1980s, when the auto manufacturer acquired more land in the area,
tore down buildings, paved a nearby road and renovated the entire
site, creating the modern Cadillac assembly facility known as the
Poletown plant.
Many of our own plant employees don't even know the cemetery
is here," said the GM official. "When they wander by and see the
place, we have to explain what it is."
At the time of GM's land purchase, there was major resentment
in the area's affected Polish community when buildings and even
some churches were demolished to make room for the new plant.
Yet Beth Olem was left untouched, protected by a state law pro-
hibiting the disturbing of cemeteries, Phythian said.
"The GM people were very kind," he added. "Even though a
number of small Jewish groups had their own interests in the ceme-
tery, no one was willing to commit to take care of the place — until
Shaarey Zedek stepped up to the task at the time the Poletown
plant was completed. Shaarey Zedek had the financial resources and
the desire to maintain the cemetery and to try to preserve it in its
original form.
"My Clover Hill Memorial Park crew cuts the grass, trims the
trees, straightens up fallen stones, and handles everything else that
needs attention, especially before the High Holidays and Passover,"
Phythian said. "The Clover Hill Board of Trustees [headed by
Chairman Yale Levin] has been very generous and usually goes
along with all of my requests.

-

SHADOWS OF THE

GM

Right: Shaarey
Zedek's Leonard
Baruch and Clover
Hill Cemetery's
Andy Phythian
review the Beth
Olem grounds.

Below: Some Beth Olem headstones
date back to the Civil War era, although
this one dates to 1911.

Opposite page: Tops of the GM Poletown
plant buildings rise above the Beth Olem
fence line as Leonard Baruch examines
the condition of gravesites.

POLETOWN PLANT, WILL OPEN TO THE PUBLIC THIS WEEKEND.

"Our maintenance trips provide a happy occasion for the local
neighborhood kids. They come in and pick berries from the lone
elderberry tree. I'm sure that results in some fine elderberry wine for
the families," he said.
Leonard Baruch, executive secretary of Clover Hill Memorial Park
— one of his many post-retirement positions at Shan rey Zedek in
recent years — said the synagogue is pleased to take care of Beth Olem
in the "true Jewish tradition, helping the entire Jewish community.
"Many of the people buried there were from prominent Jewish
families," Baruch said. "When you come out and look at the ceme-
tery and see what its surroundings are like, you realize what a highly
unusual and amazing place it is."

Few Visitors

The dwindling attendance at the twice-annual visitations is due
Mainly to the fact that the last burial at Beth Olem was in 1948.
Most of its burials occurred in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Few
descendants are aware of their history in this place.
The stones at Beth Olem vary greatly in size and design. The old-
est person buried there was 102; the youngest was three months,
buried in a special children's section with small headstones. Many of
the deceased died at relatively young ages, reflecting the fact that
the life expectancy in 1900 was age 47, compared to age 74 today.
Services used to be held in a chapel on the Beth Olem grounds.
The chapel was repeatedly vandalized and fell into disrepair, forcing
its removal in 1982. A faded sign shows that Mr. and Mrs. David
Oppenheim donated money for the construction of a wall around
the cemetery and the gateway.

BETH OLEM

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