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© Center for Jewish Art, Photographer: Levin, Vladimir, 7.2021

Name

Holocaust Monument (No official name)

Who is Commemorated?

Jewish victims of Holocaust from Opatija

Description:

The aedicula type monument consists of an ornate base that bears two Corinthian columns on the ends, which support a strait cornice. The base, which is set over two horizontal courses of rectangular stone blocks that create two steps, is decorated with a central inscribed cartouche and rectangular side panels decorated in marble relief of carved strings of fruit and flowers, including pears and sunflowers.

The back wall and central part between the columns are made of concrete block faced on the front and under the lintel with broken pieces of marble slabs. In the center is a large rectangular white marble plaque with a five-pointed star and a memorial inscription and two columns of names of victims. The concrete cornice is topped by a carved stone Magen David and two stone volutes, which probably come from the original Torah ark.

The monument was constructed from the former Torah Ark of the Prayer Hall in Opatija, using the lower tier of the ark with a cartouche and festoons and the Corinthian capitals of its columns. This 18th-century ark from the Scuola Spagnola in Trieste was donated to the Opatija community by the community of Trieste in 1934. (For the photograph of the ark in the Opatija Prayer Hall see ID 40393).

Inscriptions:

On the white marble plaque, in Croatian:

U trajan spomen
žrtvama
Naci-Fašizma

[List of the names of 52 victims]

Opatija  1. svibnja 1955.

Savez Jevrejskih Općina
Jugoslavije

Translation: In lasting memory of victims of Nazi-Fascism

Opatija, May 1, 1955

Federation of Jewish Communities of Yugoslavia

 

In the cartouche in the lower part of the monument, the original Hebrew inscription from the Torah ark:

נס לעם זו שמר נדרו
כי כארון ד[? ?]שנה
מקדש חדש לכל בנה
כי דת משה מאת צורו;
אבן מקיר תזעק מילי
[?]עד אי עצל תשכב מתי?
השכם שקוד על דלתותי
אשרי אדם ישמע קולי;

Translation:

A poetic text in Hebrew, with verses Habakkuk 2:11, Proverbs 6:9, Proverbs 8:34, Isaiah 43:11 etc. (not related to the Holocaust).

 

Commissioned by

Federation of Jewish Communities of Yugoslavia

Name/Title
Holocaust memorial in the Jewish Cemetery in Opatija | Unknown
Object Detail
Settings
Date
1955
Active dates
Reconstruction dates
Artist/ Maker
Unknown
(Unknown)
Historical Origin
Unknown
Community type
Congregation
Location
Croatia | Dalmatia | Opatija
| Jewish sector of the municipal cemetery, 3 Varljenska cesta
Site
Unknown
School/Style
Unknown|
Period
Unknown
Period Detail
Collection
Unknown |
Documentation / Research project
Unknown
Material / Technique
Marble, concrete
Material Stucture
Material Decoration
Material Bonding
Material Inscription
Material Additions
Material Cloth
Material Lining
Tesserae Arrangement
Density
Colors
Construction material
Measurements
Height
262 cm
Length
Width
176 cm
Depth
Circumference
Thickness
70 cm
Diameter
Weight
Axis
Panel Measurements
Condition
Extant
Documented by CJA
Surveyed by CJA
Present Usage
Present Usage Details
Condition of Building Fabric
Architectural Significance type
Historical significance: Event/Period
Historical significance: Collective Memory/Folklore
Historical significance: Person
Architectural Significance: Style
Architectural Significance: Artistic Decoration
Urban significance
Significance Rating
Textual Content
Languages of inscription
Shape / Form
0
Ornamentation
Custom
Contents
Codicology
Scribes
Script
Number of Lines
Ruling
Pricking
Quires
Catchwords
Hebrew Numeration
Blank Leaves
Direction/Location
Façade (main)
Endivances
Location of Torah Ark
Location of Apse
Location of Niche
Location of Reader's Desk
Location of Platform
Temp: Architecture Axis
Arrangement of Seats
Location of Women's Section
Direction Prayer
Direction Toward Jerusalem
Coin
Coin Series
Coin Ruler
Coin Year
Denomination
Signature
Colophon
Scribal Notes
Watermark
Hallmark
Group
Group
Group
Group
Group
Trade Mark
Binding
Decoration Program
Summary and Remarks
Remarks
Suggested Reconsdivuction
History/Provenance

The Holocaust memorial was constructed in 1955 on the place of burial of Torah scrolls from the destroyed synagogue. It was an initiative of Bernard Nathan (1881-1968), the pre-WWII President of the Jewish Community, who returned to Opatija after the war. For the monument, he used the remains of the Torah Ark from the Prayer Hall in Opatija, which was donated by the community of Trieste in 1934.

Main Surveys & Excavations
Bibliography

CJA documentation

Short Name
Full Name
Volume
Page
Type
Documenter
Ivan Čerešnješ; Vladimir Levin | 2007; 2021
Author of description
Vladimir Levin, Samuel D. Gruber | 2022
Architectural Drawings
|
Computer Reconstruction
|
Section Head
|
Language Editor
|
Donor
Keller Foundation | 2021
Negative/Photo. No.
A440358