During World War I, when the front line was passing through the town, Jewish cemeteries suffered severe damage from the bombing of the city conducted by the Central Powers (Germany and Bulgaria) throughout 1916. When Rabbi Shabtai Dzhaen arrived in Bitola in 1924, he saw that the cemetery lies on a sharp slope on the outskirts of the city and is in a very bad condition. Most of the monuments were destroyed and served as construction material. Sometimes the inscriptions were disposed, but often stayed as ornaments. The remaining tombstones were scattered, broken and moss was spread all over them. Rabbi Dzhaen traveled to America and there he gathered contributions from the Jewish-born migrants from Bitola/Monastir. When he returned in 1929, the rabbi initiated an action to build a very nice and solid protective wall of stone