Obj. ID: 58513
  Memorials  Hoofd Synagogue in Bruxelles, Belgium - Holocaust memorial plaque to Jewish resistance

To the main object: Hoofd Synagogue in Bruxelles, Belgium

Name of Monument

No official name

What/Who is commemorated?

Jewish fighters, resistance fighters, and martyrs of Brussels

Description

In a hallway of the synagogue is affixed a large rectangular marble wall plaque, inscribed in Hebrew and French as a memorial to the Jewish fighters and victims of the Holocaust, especially those deported, from Brussels. Alternating texts in French and Hebrew fill the top part of the plaque.  In the center is inscribed a large menorah with all its branches lit.  Set into this is a pair of tablets fashioned in copper, that form licked doors, and on which is inscribed in French and Hebrew “Book of Martyrs.” Presumably inside this copper “book” are places the names of victims. In the center of the tablets, joining them, and placed around the lock,  is a copper Magen David.

Inscriptions

In French:

COMMUNAUTE ISRAELITE DE BRUXELLES

In Hebrew:

זכרון עולם

לגבורי עדתנו שנפלו במלחמה ולאלפי קדושי בריסל

שנספו במחנות השמדה שמם הונצח פה בספר

תרצט  תשה

תנצבה

Translation: Eternal memory to the heroes of our community who fell in the war and to the thousands of martyrs of Brussels who perished in the extermination camps, whose names are immortalized here in the book. 1939-1945. May the souls of the deceased be bound up in the bond of life everlasting.

 In French:

A LA MEMOIRE DES COMBATTANTS, RESISTANTS

ET MARTYRS JUIFS DE BRUXELLES MORTS AU

CHAMP D'HONNEUR OU EN DEPORTATION

1939-1945

Translation: Jewish Community of Brussels / In memory of the Jewish fighters, resistance fighters, and martyrs of Brussels who died on the field of honor or in deportation 1939-1945.

MALINES

BREENDONK 

AUSCHWITZ

MAIDANEK

On copper “book” in center, in Frech and Hebrew:

LIVRE DES MARTYRS

ספר הקדושים

Translation: Book of Martyrs

In French:

DES MILLIERS DE JUIFS DE BRUXELLES HOMMES, FEMMES

ENFANTS ONT ETE DEPORTES, MIS A MORT ET PRIVES DE

SEPULTURE DANS LES CAMPS D'EXTERMINATION NAZIS

- LEURS NOMS SONT PERPETUES DANS CE MEMORIAL -

Translation: Thousands of Jews from Brussels—men, women, and children—were deported, killed, and denied burial in Nazi extermination camps. Their names are preserved in this memorial.

Commissioned by

Jewish Community of Brussels (Communaute Israelite de Bruxelles)