Obj. ID: 45675
Memorials Holocaust Memorial at the synagogue site in Didymoteicho, Greece, 2002
Memorial Name
No official name
Who is Commemorated?
900 Jews of Didymoteicho who were deported and killed.
Description:
The monument sits within an open plaza, formerly the site of the town synagogue, and now a paved open space border by some stone walls and low buildings, A low concrete two-step platform is in the middle of space and a hexagonal section at the center of this is paved irregularly shaped marble stone slabs.
Set in the center of the hexagon is a single tall triangular black granite stone, set on a low triangular base. The base has inscriptions on all three sides. The monument itself is carved in high relief on all three sides. One on side is a tall menorah with lit lamps fills the entire space. The two other sides are each carved to have full height niches out of which are filled with carved large intertwined struggling human figures, which extend beyond the niche into the viewer’s space.
Inscription:
On the base of the sculpture, in Greek:
3 ΜΑΡΤΙΟΥ 1943
ΓΙΑ ΝΑ ΜΗΝ ΞΕΧΑΣΤΕΙ ΤΟ ΜΑΡΤΥΡΙΟ
ΤΩΝ 900 ΑΘΩΩΝ ΕΛΛΗΝΩΝ ΕΒΡΑΙΩΝ
TOY ΔΙΔΥΜΟΤΕΙΧΟΥ ΠΟΥ ΣΥΝΕΛΗΦΘΗΣΑΝ
AΠΟ ΤΑΓΕΡΜΑΝΙΚΑ ΣΤΡΑΤΕΥΜΑΤΑ
ΚΑΙ ΑΦΑΝΙΣΤΗΚΑΝ ΣΤΑ
NAZΙΣΤΟΣ ΣΤΡΑΤΟΠΕΔΑ ΤΟΥ ΘΑΝΑΤΟΥ
Translation: March 3, 1943, To remember the martyrdom of 900 innocent Greek Jews of Didymoticho who were deported by German soldiers and disappeared into the Nazi death camps
On the other side of the base, in Greek:
ΟΛΟΚΑΥΤΩΜΑ
ΠΟΤΕ ΠΙΑ
Translation: Holocaust / Never Again
On the third side of the base, in Greek:
Translation:
Commissioned by
Municipality of Didymoticho
Central Board of Jewish Communities of Greece
8 image(s) Items per page
sub-set tree: 
| Πλατεία Εβραίων Μαρτύρων (Jewish Martyrs’ Square) Formerly 13 Katsandoni Street
The Jewish community of Didymoteicho was one of the oldest in Greece and before the German occupation it had more than 1,000 members. On May 4, 1943, 731 Jews from Didymoteicho and 180 from Nea Orestiada were arrested and transported, piled into animal wagons, to Thessaloniki. From there to Poland, on the journey of no return. By 1985 there were no Jews living in the town, and in 1987 the Jewish Community of Didymoteicho was officially dissolved.
The Holocaust Memorial was built in 2002 at the location of the former synagogue, which was damaged by the Germans and fully demolished in 1984. The site was subsequently transformed into a public square and named by the Municipal Council "Jewish Martyrs Square" in memory of the 731 Jewish residents of Didymoteicho who were arrested and murdered by the Nazis. The monument was dedicated by Evangelos Papatsarouchas, Mayor of Didymoteicho, in May 2002.
The granite sculpture symbolizes the hardships of the Jewish martyrs. It was sculpted at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia.
The space of the monument was neglected for many years but cleaned in preparation for an international conference on "The Jews in Demotica before and after the Shoah" on May 5-6, 2023. Just months later (August) there were complaints by a city representative and in the local press that the space had again become overgrown with vegetation and filled with trash.
Μανάκα , Μαρία, “Μνημόσυνο για τους Εβραίους του Διδυμοτείχου,” (Memorial for the Jews of Didymoteichus), EPT News, May 8, 2023., https://www-ertnews-gr.translate.goog/perifereiakoi-stathmoi/orestiada/mnimosyno-gia-tous-evraious-tou-didymoteixou/?_x_tr_sl=el&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc (accessed June 27, 2024)
"Διδυμότειχο: Απαράδεκτη εικόνα εγκατάλειψης στο χώρο της πρώην Εβραϊκής Συναγωγής – Ξέσπασμα δημοτικής συμβούλου,” (Didymoteicho: Unacceptable image of abandonment in the area of the former Jewish Synagogue – Outburst of municipal councilor), Evros-news.gr: August 18, 2023., https://www.evros-news.gr/2023/08/18/%ce%b4%ce%b9%ce%b4%cf%85%ce%bc%cf%8c%cf%84%ce%b5%ce%b9%cf%87%ce%bf-%ce%b1%cf%80%ce%b1%cf%81%ce%ac%ce%b4%ce%b5%ce%ba%cf%84%ce%b7-%ce%b5%ce%b9%ce%ba%cf%8c%ce%bd%ce%b1-%ce%b5%ce%b3%ce%ba%ce%b1%cf%84/ (accessed June 27, 2024)
“Didymoteicho: international symposium on the Jews of the city,” Central Israeli Council of Greece Website, May 09, 2023., https://en.kis.gr/index.php/olokaftoma/draseis-poleon/didymoteixo/mnemosyno-gia-tous-ebraious-tou-didymoteichou (accessed June 27, 2024)