Obj. ID: 34243
Memorials Holocaust Memorial in the Jewish cemetery in Pitești, Romania, 1975
To the main object: Jewish cemetery in Pitești, Romania
Memorial Name
No official name
Who/What is Commemorated?
Jewish victims of the Holocaust
Description:
Inscription:
In Romanian:
Trupurile fraților noștri evrei extermi-
nați în lagăre de concentrare și în came-
re de gazare de către fiarele fasciste,
au fost transformate de aceștia în săpun
care poartă inscripția:
REIN JÜDISCHES FETT (RIF)
Am înmormântat aceste săpunuri rămășițele
sfinților noștri martiri, astăzi 22 august 1975
Fie amintirea lor binecuvântată.
Comunitatea Evreilor Pitești.
Translation: The bodies of our Jewish brothers, exterminated in concentration camps and gas chambers by the fascist beasts, were transformed by them into soap bearing the inscription REIN JÜDISCHES FETT (RIF). We have buried these soaps – the remains of our holy martyrs – today, August 22, 1975. May their memory be blessed. The Jewish Community of Pitești.
In Hebrew:
Translation:
Commissioned by
The Jewish Community of Pitești
sub-set tree: 
During WWII, the legend was spread that the Nazi Germany made soap with the stamp 'RUF' from the bodies of Holocaust victims. Starting from 1944, 'RIF' soap was buried by Jews in cemeteries all over the world in memory of Holocaust victims. Yad Vashem turned down the legend in 1990. Romania most probably has more ‘Jewish soap’ graves than the rest of the world. [Neander, 27]
Neander, Joachim, "'Symbolically burying the six million’: post-war soap burial in Romania, Bulgaria and Brazil,” Human Remains & Violence: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 2 (1) (April 2016): 23–40, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301933744_%27Symbolically_burying_the_six_million%27_post-war_soap_burial_in_Romania_Bulgaria_and_Brazil (accessed August 25, 2024)