Obj. ID: 8089
Modern Jewish Art  Memorial at the Site of the Demolished Neolog Synagogue in Senta, Serbia, 2001

To the main object: Ashkenazi (Neolog) Synagogue in Senta

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 there are older monuments dating 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 Status Quo community survivors all left in 1948.

In the 1950s, the Senta Jewish community sold both the Neolog Great Synagogue and the Sephardic (Orthodox) Small Synagogue to the city. The small synagogue was converted into a physical education hall. The Orthodox synagogue (23 Boška Jugovića Street) still exists and has been recently renovated and serves as a cultural center.

The community does not exist anymore.

The Neolog synagogue was built in a neoclassical style. What was unique about this synagogue is that it had towers. A few Jews who survived the Holocaust could not sustain the communal institutions and buildings on their own. The first victim was the large Neolog synagogue, standing without windows, and with a damaged roof structure. Therefore, on the grounds that it was not worth investing funds to restore the building, it was demolished in 1957.

This was not an isolated case. Eighty-two synagogues existed in the Vojvodina region before the Holocaust. Sixty-five were demolished; fifteen during and fifty-one after World War II, most in the period between 1948 and 1951. The answer to this lies partially in the fact that some of the buildings were damaged during the war and Jewish communities lacked the financial means to renovate them. Most communities vanished, and those who managed to reestablish themselves after the Holocaust were not only impoverished but also saw welfare activities as a priority. Therefore, Jewish communities and the Federation of Jewish Communities of Yugoslavia sold dozens of synagogue buildings nationwide and used the funds to support their members. While some of the synagogue buildings were repurposed, in Vojvodina the vast majority were destroyed.

The monument on the site of the demolished synagogue in Senta was unveiled in 2001. The inscription only acknowledges the existence of the synagogue, without mentioning what was the fate of the local Jewish community during the Holocaust.

The Senta municipality is maintaining the monument.