Obj. ID: 8087
Jewish Funerary Art Holocaust Memorial at the Jewish cemetery in Senta, Serbia, 1957
To the main object: Jewish cemetery in Senta, Serbia
Memorial Name
No official name
Who is Commemorated?
Victims of the Holocaust from Senta
Description
The monument consists of a memorial wall and a black marble obelisk in front of it. Both feature a Magen David on top. The obelisk features an inscription in Hungarian. The memorial wall is covered with a canopy. The inscription on it is written in the arched strip made of pink marble with the Magen David in the middle. The inscription is in Hebrew [verses from the Av HaRahamim (Father of Mercy) and Avinu Malkeinu (Our Father, our King) prayers]. Below on three plaques made of white stone are the names of those who perished written in Yiddish orthography. The pattern of commemoration is the following: the man’s profession or status within the community (aka. rabbi, teacher, gabbai, etc.), the name of the man of the house, and the name of his wife and their children.
On the back side of the memorial wall is a plaque from 1926-1927 with the inscription of gratitude and the names of the donors for the Yesodot HaTorah society in memory of their family members who passed.
Inscriptions
On the obelisk (Hungarian):
A zsidó üldöztetés gyászos éveiben 1941-1945 a fasiszták által elhurcolt és kiirtott vértanúk emlékére
Translation: In the sad years of the Jewish persecution of 1941-1945, in commemoration of the martyrs deported and exterminated by the fascists
On the memorial wall (Hebrew):
שמות הקדושים מקהילתינו שנהרגו ונשרפו שנות 1942-45 על קד' ה'ש באושוויץ, אוקריינא, בהונגריא ובגרמניה
אבינו מלכנו נקום לעינינו נקמת דם עבדיך השפוך
Translation: Names of the martyrs from our community who were killed and burned in the years 1942-45 for the sanctification of God's Name in Auschwitz, Ukraine, Hungary, Germany / Our Father, our King avenge before our eyes, the blood of your servants that has been spilled
[Explanation for the years: the Magen David is part of the inscription and its points feature the letters ת ש ג ד ה ק - which denote the years 1942-3, 1943-4, 1944-5 - (תש'ג), (תש'ד), (תש'ה), while the letter 'ק' stands for 'לפרט קטן' – meaning excluding thousands]
לזכרון עולם ק'ה סענטא יצ'ו ['ישמריהו צורו ויחיהו]
Translation: For the eternal memory of the community of Senta, may this rock guard it and keep it alive.
[List of Victims formatted thus: A man’s name, his profession or status within the community, the name of his wife, and their children.]
שמות הכתובים כאן אין לסמוך עליהן לגיטין וקידושין
יצחק משה בלייער
סענטא
Translation: The names written here are not to confirm or deny, or be trusted for Gittin (Talmudic tractate) and Kiddushin (the sanctification of a marriage) / Yitzhak Moshe Bleier / Senta
On the back side of the memorial wall (Hebrew):
בעז''השי''ת [בעזרת השם יתברך] שנת תרפז [5687] לפ''ק [לפרט קטן, או ללא ציון האלפים]
האנשים האלה נקבו בשמות להעלות זכרונם לטובה בשני עולמות
לזכרון עולם
פזרו מהונם ברוח נדיבה לבנות בתים להגדיל תורה ויוראת
ה' טהורה
איש כמתנת ידו בנפש טובה והתאחדו והתאזרו ליסד חברת יסודי-התורה
חקוק בעט ברזל ועופרת צדקתם תעמוד לעד למשמרת
מו''ה [מורנו הרב] צבי שטארק לט''נ [לטובת נשמת] ז''ג [זוגתו] לאה בת דבורה נ'[נפטרה] שנת תרצ''ט [5699] ח' אדר
Translation: With God's help, bless the year 5687 excluding thousands / These people were named to bring back fond memories in both worlds / For eternal memory / They spread their wealth in a spirit of generosity spirit to build houses to increase Torah and reverence of Pure God / God is pure / A man as a gift of his hand in a good spirit and united and joined together to found the Yesodot HaTorah society / Engraved with a pen of iron and lead, your righteousness will forever be preserved / Rabbi Zvi Stark our teacher, in the merit of the soul of his wife Leah daughter of Deborah nee in the year 5699, the 8th of Adar
Commissioned by
The Jewish Community of Senta
sub-set tree:
Mortar
Lower right (Hebrew)
יצחק משה בלייער סענטא
The first Jews settled in Senta in the late 18th century. The community, Hevra Kadisha, prayer house, and school were established in the first half of the 19th century. The synagogue was erected in 1806. The cemetery was officially founded in 1852, although older monuments date back to 1785. Those were transferred from the old cemetery that stood on the coast of the Tisza River. In 1855, a part of the members separated and established an orthodox community that had its own synagogue and mikveh. There was also a small Status Quo community, which was basically followers of Sighet Hasidism.
The new Neolog synagogue with an internal school was built in 1873. There was also a religious school Talmud Torah. The formal division between the two communities occurred in 1915. The Jewish Cultural Center was built in 1925 and the new Orthodox synagogue was built in 1929. In the 1920s, there were 1327 Jews living in Senta, the majority belonged to the Orthodox community. The number of Holocaust survivors is 276. The two religious communities probably merged in 1950 or 1951 due to the small number of people while the survivors from the Status Quo community all left in 1948. The Neolog synagogue on Táncsics Mihály Street was demolished in 1957. The orthodox synagogue (23 Boška Jugovića Street) still exists and has been recently renovated. There is no memorial plaque.
The community does not exist anymore.
The monument to the Jews of Senta, victims of fascism, was unveiled on July 4, 1957, in the Jewish cemetery. Its erection was initiated by the Jewish community of Senta. It seemed that the memorial went through some minor changes based on the archival photographs from the unveiling of the memorial held at the Jewish Historical Museum in Belgrade (the addition of the canopy and tombs of the five Jewish antifascists now standing at the foot of the monument, which were possibly added in 1976 when their remains were transferred from the Jewish cemetery to a new monument to the fallen fighters; for more details see: Memorial to Five Jewish Antifascists in the Jewish Cemetery in Senta and Memorial to the Victims of Fascism in the Upper Town City Cemetery in Senta).
The Senta Municipality maintains the cemetery and the memorial.
Annual commemoration ceremonies by this memorial on the anniversary of the deportation of Jews of Senta (26 April 1944) have been organized by the Jewish community Subotica.
"Memorials in Senta," Locations (Vojvodina Holocaust Memorials Project), https://www.vhmproject.org/en-US/Locations/Memorials/19 (accessed June 18, 2023)
Pejin, Atila, “Jevrejsko Groblje u Senti.” Zbornik 7, Jevrejski istorijski muzej (1997), pp. 105-136.
Pejin, Attila, A zentai zsidóság története. (Senta: Thurzó Lajos Közművelődési Központ, 2003)
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.
“Készítsenek nekem Szentélyt, hogy köztük lakjam! (2Mózes 25:8.),” Eugen, http://www.eugen.hupont.hu/81/keszitsenek-nekem-szentelyt-hogy-koztuk-lakjamfelavattak (accessed June 18, 2023)