Obj. ID: 49967
Memorials Holocaust Memorial in the Jewish Cemetery of Bački Petrovac, Serbia, between 1945 and 1948
Memorial Name
No official name
Who is Comemmorated?
Jewish Victims of the Holocaust from Bački Petrovac
Description
This memorial has the shape of an upright stele, made of white and black stone (possibly marble), that stands on a two-stepped base. A rectangular plaque with an engraved Magen David tops the arched upper section of the white stone stele. The upper section bears inscriptions in Hebrew that commemorate the victims. Below, on the main body of the monument made of black stone, is a commemorative inscription in Hebrew to the community’s last rabbi - Rabbi Shammai Zilber, and his wife Rivka. Underneath are engraved the names of the victims written in Yiddish orthography. At the base is engraved a commemorative inscription in Slovak.
Inscriptions
On the upper section of the memorial (Hebrew)
שמות הקדושים מקהילתינו שנהרגו ונשרפו על קד' ה'ש
באושוויץ, באוקריינא, בהונגריא
ובגרמניא
אבינו מלכנו נקום לעינינו נקמת דם עבדיך השפוך
Translation: The names of the martyrs from our community who were killed and burned for the sanctification of the Name [Kiddush HaShem] in Auschwitz, Ukraine, Hungary, and Germany. / Our Father, our King avenge before our eyes, the blood of your servants that has been spilled
On the main body of the monument (Hebrew)
הברב מו"ר [מורנו הרב] שמאי זילבער ואשתו רבקה גאלדא
Translation: Rabbi our teacher Shamai Zilber and his wife Rivka Golda
[Beneath this are the names of victims in Yiddish orthography]
On the base of the memorial (Slovak)
Na pamiatku
Našim milym a nezapomenutelnym martyrom ktori sa
daleko od svojej vlasti stali obetou ohavneho fašizmu.
Translation: In memory of Our dear and unforgettable martyrs who fell as victims to hideous fascism far from their homeland
Commissioned by
The Jewish Community of Bački Petrovac
17 image(s)
sub-set tree:
| 11 Borisa Kidriča Street, Bački Petrovac, Serbia
Jews settled in Bački Petrovac in 1736. There is no information about the first prayer house, but it is presumed that it existed at the beginning of the 19th century, as there are data on rabbis and cantors dated prior to 1850. In the late 19th century, the community adopted an Orthodox orientation. The new building of the synagogue was erected in 1905, at today's address 4 Jana Labara Street. Apart from the synagogue, the community also had a school, mikveh, Jewish community communal building, and cemetery. Before the beginning of the Second World War, about a hundred Jews lived in Bački Petrovac, and 23 survived the Holocaust. The synagogue was demolished in 1961. There is no memorial plaque.
The memorial in the Jewish cemetery was probably unveiled between 1945 and 1948, as the community after 1948 seized to exist. Based on the archival images held at the Jewish Historical Museum in Belgrade, it is possible that at some point the base was replaced, as in those images the base looks much higher than the current one.
Between 1947 and 1948, there were several similar "ad hoc, uncoordinated initiatives that were driven largely by the sense of obligation of the surviving Jews towards their murdered relatives and friends" [Kerenji, p. 209]. As a result of these initiatives small monuments and plaques were dedicated by communities in Vojvodina, among them Subotica, Sombor, Stara Kanjiža and Senta.
No commemoration ceremonies are held at this site and the cemetery is covered with wild growth.
The cemetery was fenced by ESJF in May 2017. The Bački Petrovac municipality is responsible for the maintenance of this memorial and the cemetery.
Benková, Viera, "Židia medzi nami v Petrovci," Národný kalendár 89 (2010), pp. 110-112.
Kerenji, Emil, “Jewish Citizens of Socialist Yugoslavia: Politics of Jewish Identity in a Socialist State, 1944–1974,” Ph.D. diss., University of Michigan, 2008, p. 209., https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/60848/ekerenji_1.pdf?sequence=1. June 2020 (accessed February 23, 2022)
"Memorials in Bački Petrovac," Locations (Vojvodina Holocaust Memorials Project), https://www.vhmproject.org/en-US/Locations/Memorials/4 (accessed June 11, 2023)
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.