Westlawn Cemetery Explained
Westlawn Cemetery is a Jewish cemetery located in Norridge, a suburb of Chicago in Illinois. The cemetery covers 72acres and roughly 46,000 people are buried there.
Notable interments
- Leonard S. Chess, record company executive[2]
- Virginia Lee Corbin, actress
- Sandy Dvore, artist
- Mike Nussbaum, actor
- Susan Nussbaum, actress and playwright
- Richard Elrod, jurist, sheriff, and legislator
- Jack Ruby, convicted of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, who at the time was under arrest for the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy[3]
(His conviction was later reversed. He died awaiting a new trial, still legally presumed innocent.)[4] [5]
- Abe Saperstein, creator of the Savoy Big Five, precursor of the Harlem Globetrotters[6]
- Harry Sawyer, Jewish-American organized crime boss based in the Twin Cities, co-conspirator and protector of the Dillinger and Barker-Karpis Gangs.[7]
- Shel Silverstein, poet, author, satirist, and cartoonist[8]
- Gene Siskel, film critic[9]
Vandalism
Westlawn was the site of gravestone desecration in January 2008. At least 57 tombstones were defaced with anti-Semitic slogans. Using white and blue spray paint, the vandal drew swastikas and slurs on tombstones in a western section of the cemetery.
A 21-year-old Polish immigrant male was charged with the crime in February 2008. He has been directly linked by police to a neo-Nazi organization in the Chicago area and he was a member of the National Socialist Movement. He was convicted on two charges of felony vandalism and sentenced to 7 years in prison, the maximum sentence.[10] [11]
External links
Notes and References
- Web site: About Us. Westlawn Cemetery and Mausoleum. 2 April 2023.
- Book: Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons. 3rd. Scott. Wilson. Gregory W.. Mank. August 19, 2016. McFarland & Co.. 978-0-7864-7992-4. 133, #2289.
- Wilson and Mank at #11021
- News: Phil Burleson, 61, Jack Ruby's Lawyer. The New York Times. June 1, 1995. April 2, 2023. subscription.
- Web site: This Day In History: November 22. Sky History.
- Wilson and Mank at #11201
- Book: Maccabee, Paul. 1995. John Dillinger Slept Here: A Crook's Tour of Crime and Corruption in St. Paul, 1920-1936. Minnesota Historical Society Press. 284–285. 978-0-8735-1316-6. April 2, 2023.
- Wilson and Mank at #11695
- Wilson and Mank at #11741
- News: 2010-12-03. Neo-Nazi Convicted Of Vandalizing Jewish Cemetery. CBS Chicago News. 2020-11-24. en-US.
- News: Neo-Nazi Mariusz Wdziekonski Gets Maximum Sentence For Defiling Jewish Graves. 25 February 2014. Huff Post. 17 December 2010.
