Memorial Name
Mother and Child
Who is Commemorated?
Victims of Fascism in Osijek and Slavonia
Description:
The statue stands at the center of a square in front of the Jewish Community Building. Its meaning as the Holocaust memorial, however, is not definitive. Daniel Zec, who researched the Rezeptionsgeschichte (reception history) of Nemon’s statue, argued that “from the very beginning … the interpretation of the meaning of the monument varied between the war sufferings of the Jews and the universal victims of fascist terror.”
The statue represents a slim female figure raising a child with both of her hands and kissing them.
A Croatian inscription on the bronze base of the statue, on its front side, mentions the sculptor and the Jewish community of Osijek. Another Croatian inscription on the left side of the granite base mentions the victims of Fascism in Osijek and its larger region, Slavonia.
Inscription
On the granite base:
Žrtvama fašizma
Osijeka I Slavonije
1941 – 1945
Translation: To victims of Fascism in Osijek and Slavonia, 1941–1945
On the bronze base of the sculpture
Oskar Nemon i
Jevrejska općina
Osijek
Sjeti se
nikada ne zaboravi!
Translation: Oscar Nemon and the Jewish community of Osijek. Remember, never forget!
Commissioned by
Oscar Nemon and the Jewish community of Osijek