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A cross-section of New York’s Jewish community is laid to rest in Mount Hebron Cemetery, including the notable (hotelier Asher Selig Grossinger; Yiddish theatrical legend Boris Thomashefsky), the notorious (mobsters Louis Buchalter and Nathan Caplan, alternatively spelled Kaplan), and the heroic (veterans who served with U.S. forces in the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, and subsequent conflicts). Preserving their stories for future generations is the goal of the Legacy Project, which publishes detailed accounts about people interred in Mount Hebron, the largest Jewish cemetery in Queens.
Queens College interns have been part of this project since it started in 2019; for some, participation is more than academic. “Three of the interns began their internship because they have family buried here,” notes Adam Ginsberg, president of the Cedar Grove Cemetery Association. (Mount Hebron opened in 1909 as the Jewish section of nondenominational Cedar Grove and now occupies 215 of the institutions’ combined 240 acres; funerals are still taking place at both cemeteries.)
Retrieving Records
Interns are welcome to walk the grounds, but their physical presence isn’t essential. “It’s mostly remote work,” explains Ginsberg. “We’ve had interns spend hours with our records.” They also trawl through obituaries, online and QC library resources and, for information about military service, the National Archives. Completed presentations are posted to the cemetery’s website and social media and credited to the students, who receive a stipend and can qualify for academic credit.
“Mount Hebron has been a fantastic partner for Queens College,” says Andrew Amstutz (History), coordinator of his department’s internship programs. “Students get to do their own self-directed research. It’s translated into digital presentation and becomes part of their professional portfolio . . . . The topics they explore are deeply local and global at the same time.”
Initially, the Legacy Project focused on veterans. Mount Hebron’s first intern, history major Hannah Berman ’20, found this experience transformative. “I have learned what it truly means to sacrifice, and have discovered stories of great personal valor, strength, and survival in some cases,” she wrote in an essay posted to Mount Hebron’s website.
“It is especially sobering to come across the records and stories of young soldiers who never made it home, who died overseas while fighting for their country, and in the case of WWII veterans, for the Jewish people. When I come across soldiers who were killed at 18, 19, 20 years old, merely kids themselves, I am reminded of how much we owe to them, and am determined to ensure that they, and all veterans, are remembered and honored for their service.” After earning a master’s in archives and public history from New York University, Berman joined History Associates Incorporated as a research historian.
As a student in QC’s dual master’s program in library science and history, Chloe Baker ’18, MLS/MA ’21, also researched veterans buried at Mount Hebron. “There were a lot of starts and stops and dead ends,” she recalls. “For World War I and World War II, there are no automated systems.” Much of the material was handwritten and therefore hard to decipher.
Family Ties
“There are direct ties to my family,” says Baker, who after graduating from QC became a librarian at the Brooklyn Public Library in Bensonhurst. “Sharing these stories was important to me. But I don’t think they hold appeal only for Jewish people. Struggle, overcoming obstacles, and reverence for tradition have wider appeal.”
To date, the Legacy Project has confirmed the identity of more than 2200 Jewish veterans buried at Mount Hebron; a significant number of them fell in the line of duty. Collaborating with General Theodoric Panton of the Air Force Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (R.O.T.C.) program at John Bowne High School, students place American flags on service members’ graves on Memorial Day and Veterans Day.
But the Legacy Project isn’t limited to veterans’ stories. With support from the Legacy Foundation at Mount Hebron Cemetery and Cedar Grove Cemetery, established in 2023, “the project has expanded to include everyone there,” says Ginsberg. “Interns have researched immigration, Holocaust survivors, stars of the Yiddish theater, politicians, and more.”
“We encourage students to look at our website and social media and find their own topics,” adds Legacy Foundation Director Deirdre Poulos. “They study what they choose.” Then they share their findings in their preferred medium, such as blogs, audio tours, interactive timelines, and slide shows. “It’s very cutting edge,” continues Poulos. “The interns are wonderful, and they’re doing wonderfully after they graduate.”
Brandon Castro ’23 majored in history and political science, but he’s passionate about music and has accumulated “lots of vinyls and 1920s radio discs,” he reports. He researched musicians buried at Mount Hebron. “Some were very well known and influential in the Yiddish music scene. It was interesting to find out about people I’d never heard of before. I found links to sound clips, which was very cool.”
Castro used some of those clips in an eight-stop audio tour he wrote and narrated, commemorating artists such as klezmer clarinetist and bandleader Naftule Brandwein and long-term New York Philharmonic cellist Martin Ormandy, brother of conductor Eugene Ormandy. “They were in their prime over 100 years ago and we’re still talking about them,” he observes. A map accompanying the tour shows where each musician is buried, for those who want to pay their respects in person. After his internship, Castro was a community services liaison with the New York City Department of Small Business Services and ran for a seat in the New York State Assembly. Currently, he is doing political strategy and campaign management and encouraging others to get involved in civic engagement.
Burial Societies Then and Now
In addition to documenting individuals, the project highlights Landsmannschaften—mutual aid societies set up by European Jewish immigrants from the same town or region—and fraternal associations. Many of these organizations provided death benefits to members, covering funeral costs and even supporting bereaved families through the first seven days of mourning. To enable landsmen to be buried near each other, societies purchased cemetery sections, marking entrances with distinctive gates.“ About 1200 burial societies were active at Mount Hebron,” says Poulos. “Close to 600 are still active.” (Burial societies and their locations are listed here.)
History graduate student Olivia Scanlon ’24, MA ’25 researched multiple Landsmannschaften, connecting them to their respective Central and Eastern Europe communities, some of them centuries old. Most of these Jewish centers were obliterated in the Holocaust. A few are commemorated at Mount Hebron by memorials erected by burial societies and the Yiddish Theatrical Alliance.
Scanlon regarded her Mount Hebron blogs as “writing stories how people would want them to be told. What I research is verified . . . . For most of the towns I’ve come across, the only proof of the community is in a cemetery. Monuments provide solid proof.” In a sense, her internship was an exercise in advocating for underrepresented communities, “recognizing how the law is necessary to safeguard against societal grievances,” she says. To continue that work, she is attending Touro Law (Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center).
The work of the Legacy Project continues, too. Together, Mount Hebron and Cedar Grove Cemetery serve as the final resting place of over 270,000 people, which means that a lot of stories remain untold. “I am grateful to our students for unearthing stories that might otherwise have been forgotten,” says Ginsberg. “Their dedication not only honors those laid to rest in our cemeteries, but also creates a bridge to the future, ensuring that these legacies continue to teach, inspire, and guide the generations to come.”
Effective next spring, the Queens College Service Corps internship program, an Experiential Education initiative, will partner with the Legacy Project. Mount Hebron will host up to two interns: an audio tour creator to write and narrate scripts for self-guided tours that highlight individuals and communities buried at Mount Hebron, and a social media and marketing assistant to help grow awareness of the cemetery’s work through strategic online engagement, creative content, and compelling outreach. “We hope to expand the partnership in the future and find other opportunities for QC students to engage with Mount Hebron,” says Experiential Education Director Cristina Di Meo.
The public can also participate in the Legacy Project. To offer information about veterans, survivors of pogroms or the Holocaust, or loved ones buried at the cemetery, go here and click on the links under Submit Stories; send an email; or call 718-939-9405.
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