Digitalization of Vilnian cemeteries violates the right to dignity and identity

Cemeteries in Vilnius enter the digital age. An effort to create an interactive map containing the data from the cemeteries has been in place for more than a year. A project like that, already realized in many Western European countries, allows the relatives to easily find their way around the graveyard using a list of names and directions to the required space. Vilnius City Municipality notifies that half of Vilnian cemeteries have already been digitalized. Unfortunately, it turns out that after a year since the start of the project, the quality of collecting and processing the data does not match the established standards.

An analysis of the data gathered from a part of one of the cemeteries found that more than 30% of the names and last names did not match their original form, were written down with a mistake, or incorrectly interpreted. Moreover, many of the graves were inadequately prepared and cleaned before the collecting of the data, and the photos were not correctly edited in a process of recording the names and last names of the dead. For example, the incorrect spelling of the Polish last names, Sciglo instead of Szczygło or Cviz instead of Czyż. The differences are significant enough to prevent the families from finding the gravestone of a correct person.

Most popular mistakes in the process of digitalization are:

a) No comprehension of Polish language (Kazimiera z Kleczkowskich Wojtasińska (originally) – Vojtasiuskas Marimiera (in the database).

b) No comprehension of Lithuanian language (Pilžys Jadwiga (originally) – Pilžis Jadviga (in the database).

c) Mistaken identity (Antonina Zabelska (originally) – Zavelska Mičeslava (in the database).

d) Lack of hard and soft consonants (Boratynski, Wojtasinska, Sidzinski).

e) Lack of the vowel ó (Jozef, Piorko, Pankominowna).

f) Twisted last names (Kowszuk (originally) – Povšuk (in the database).

g) Adding a –skij suffix to the Polish last names, which can be found in some Russian last names (Osiński (originally) – Osinskij (in the database).

h) The names at first collected as they were originally (Anna, Jan, Adam, Leon), then lithuanisied (Elena, Kazimieras, Petronėlė) or russified (Petr, Andrej, Josef, Aleksandr, Gelena).

i) The names collected in an unknown language (Telesrom, Telecvor).

European Foundation for Human Rights (EFHR) believes deeply that the inaccuracies in the digitalization of the tombstones were caused by a human error, technical imperfections, or software malfunctions, and not by the purposeful actions of the City Municipality. The Foundation emphasizes that the honor and dignity of a person, including the dead, are legally protected. It is specified in the art. 21 and 22 of the Lithuanian Constitution. Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union also states in the Art. 1: “Human dignity is inviolable. It must be respected and protected.”

The case presented above can be interpreted as a violation of those laws. Incorrect spelling of the names and last names of the dead also violates the right to identity, in this case, to be correctly identified, which every country has an obligation to guarantee to its citizens. The relatives of the dead also have the right to the accurate information about the burial place of their family. Changing the spelling of the names and last names in a process of digitalization often makes it impossible to find the correct place of burial, and thus breaks this law.

EFHR issued a letter to the Vilnian City Municipality regarding the alarming number of mistakes noticed during the cemetery data digitalization process. The City Municipality response ensures that are aware of the existing errors and promises the correction of said errors in the further stages of the project. The Digitalization of the cemeteries is divided into stages realized between the years 2019 and 2022. Until now, the process has been based on the Soviet register of burials and graves which contains many entries written in Cyrillic, that have been translated into Lithuanian. It spawned a lot of mistakes, especially among non-Lithuanian last names.

The last stage, which has begun this year, covers a review of the entries on the gravestones and a correction of found inconsistencies. The City Municipality ensures that all the remaining mistakes in the spelling of the names and last names will be removed, and the correct data will enter the system before the end of this year. EFHR will monitor the City Municipality and if all the names and last names will enter the database in an accurate form.

/Translated by Maciej Nowocień within the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights/