Obj. ID: 50027
Memorials Memorial Gravestones of Jewish Antifascists at the Holocaust Memorial at the Jewish cemetery in Senta, 1976(?)
To the main object: Holocaust Memorial at the Jewish cemetery in Senta, Serbia, 1957
Memorial Name
No official name
Who is Commemorated?
István Gerő, Dénes Löwy, Károly Löwy, István Müller, and Mátyás Spiro
Description
At the foot of the memorial wall that is part of the Memorial to the Holocaust Victims from Senta stand five gravestones. They commemorate (as the remains were exhumed) István Gerő, Dénes Löwy, Károly Löwy, István Müller, and Mátyás Spiro - five Jewish antifascists murdered in 1941.
These are simple square gravestones made of sandstone with rectangular black marble plaques bearing inscriptions. The inscriptions only include names, ages, and the word 'קדוש' - martyr.
Inscriptions
From Left to Right
Plaque 1 (Hebrew and Hungarian)
קדוש
Löwy Károly
23 éves
Translation: Martyr / Károly Löwy / 23 years old
Plaque 2 (Hebrew and Hungarian)
קדוש
Müller István
25 éves
Translation: Martyr / István Müller / 25 years old
Plaque 3 (Hebrew and Hungarian)
קדוש
Spiro Mátyás
[illegible]
Translation: Martyr / Spiro Mátyás / [illegible]
Plaque 4 (Hebrew and Hungarian)
קדוש
Löwy Dénes
28 éves
Translation: Martyr / Löwy Dénes / 28 years old
Plaque 5 (Hebrew and Hungarian)
קדוש
Gerő István
32 éves
Translation: Martyr / Gerő István / 32 years old
Commissioned by
To be determined
11 image(s)
sub-set tree:
Sandstone
On November 11, 1941, István Gerő, Dénes Löwy, Károly Löwy, István Müller, and Mátyás Spiro were murdered by hanging. Through Dr. Gerő's work, many Jewish youths from Senta joined the activities of the Liberation Movement. On October 1, 1941, the Hungarian authorities arrested Dr. Gerő, as well as young Jewish activists: Dénes Löwy, Károly Löwy, István Müller, Mátyás Spiro, and Aladar Binenfeld. The trial of the arrested men was held in Senta on November 7, 1941. The indictment specifically emphasized the role of the Jews in organizing and directing the People's Liberation Movement in the town. The Hungarian Fascist Court sentenced them to death by hanging, except for Binenfeld who was sentenced to imprisonment. The hangings were carried out in Senta on November 11, 1941.
The information about when these graves were erected is unknown, yet, it could be assumed that the victims were buried in 1941. Based on the archival photographs from the unveiling of the Memorial to the Victims in the Jewish Cemetery in Senta in 1957 that are held in the Jewish Historical Museum in Belgrade, the tombs of the five do not seem to be standing in from of the memorial. This implies that they were possibly moved here in 1976 when their remains were transferred to a new monument to the fallen fighters; for more details see: Memorial to the Holocaust Victims in the Jewish cemetery in Senta and Memorial to the Victims of Fascism in the Upper Town City Cemetery in Senta). Senta Municipality maintains the cemetery and the memorial.
Annual commemoration ceremonies by the Memorial to the Holocaust Victims in the Jewish cemetery in Senta on the anniversary of the deportation of Jews of Senta (26 April 1944) have been organized by the Jewish community of Subotica.
"Memorials in Senta," Locations (Vojvodina Holocaust Memorials Project), https://www.vhmproject.org/en-US/Locations/Memorials/19 (accessed June 18, 2023)
Pejin, Atila, “Jevrejsko Groblje u Senti.” Zbornik 7, Jevrejski istorijski muzej (1997), pp. 105-136.
Pejin, Attila, A zentai zsidóság története. (Senta: Thurzó Lajos Közművelődési Központ, 2003)
Romano, Jaša, Jevreji Jugoslavije: 1941-1945: žrtve genocida i učesnici NOR (Beograd: Savez jevrejskih opština Jugoslavije, 1980), pp. 252-253.
Ungar, Olga, "Remembering the Victims: Vojvodina Holocaust Memorials," in Jewish Literatures and Cultures in Southeastern Europe: Experiences, Positions, Memories (=Schriften des Centrums für jüdische Studien, vol. 37) eds Renate Hansen-Kokoruš and Olaf Terpitz, pp. 217-236.
“Készítsenek nekem Szentélyt, hogy köztük lakjam! (2Mózes 25:8.),” Eugen, http://www.eugen.hupont.hu/81/keszitsenek-nekem-szentelyt-hogy-koztuk-lakjamfelavattak (accessed June 18, 2023)