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Westlawn Cemetery: what Wikipedia removed

Westlawn Cemetery is a Jewish cemetery near Chicago, Illinois. The 2010 opening paragraph said at least 57 tombstones there were defaced with anti-Semitic slogans. Today the opening carries the word nowhere, though antisemitism survives once in the body. A reader today learns the cemetery’s size and location, not that dozens of its tombstones were defaced with antisemitic slogans.

The word “antisemitism” appeared 1 times in this article’s opening at its peak, in 2010. Today the opening carries none; the body carries 1. Checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01.

The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot

Section titled “The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot”
word2010201520206 October 20232025
antisemitism10000

Counts are of the opening paragraph only, the part most readers, search engines and AI training sets ever quote.

What was taken out

Section titled “What was taken out”
  • The list of notable people buried at the cemetery, including Jack Ruby, is gone from the opening.
  • The passage describing the vandalism of at least 57 tombstones with antisemitic slogans is gone from the opening; a reader no longer learns the cemetery was targeted in an antisemitic attack.

How it opened then, and now

Section titled “How it opened then, and now”

2010 (revision 350392486):

Westlawn Cemetery is a Jewish cemetery located in Norridge , Illinois . Notable persons buried there include Jack Ruby , the man who shot Lee Harvey Oswald ; film critic Gene Siskel ; Abe Saperstein , creator of the Savoy Big Five, which later became the Harlem Globetrotters ; Shel Silverstein (next to his parents), creative author and cartoonist who created ” Where the Sidewalk Ends ” and ” The Giving Tree ,” and Evelyn Wakely . The cemetery covers 72 acres (29 ha) and roughly 46,000 people are buried there. 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 swastik…

2025 (revision 1276870854):

Jewish cemetery in Cook County, Illinois For the cemetery in Canton, Ohio , see West Lawn Cemetery . Westlawn Cemetery is a Jewish cemetery located in Norridge , a suburb of Chicago in Illinois . The cemetery covers 72 acres (29 ha) and roughly 46,000 people are buried there. ^ “Westlawn Jewish Cemetery” . Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey , United States Department of the Interior . ^ “About Us” . Westlawn Cemetery and Mausoleum . Retrieved 2 April 2023 .

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