Obj. ID: 31247
Modern Jewish Art Holocaust Memorial at the site of the Demolished Synagogue in Vrbas, Serbia
To the main object: Synagogue in Vrbas, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Postcard, 1923
Memorial Name
No official name
Who and What is Commemorated?
The 176 Jewish citizens of Vrbas murdered in the Holocaust and the demolished synagogue
Description
This memorial consists of memorial plaques attached to the remaining base of one of the synagogue's columns. It stands on a platform in front of a supermarket. The column, one of the original columns of the demolished synagogue, is embedded in a hexagonal pedestal made of sandstone. On the plinth, around the column, there are six black granite tablets with inscriptions in Hebrew, English, German, Serbo-Croatian, Hungarian, and Pannonian Rusyn (a local dialect of Ruthenian). The Hebrew inscription differs from the others, which are identical.
Inscriptions
Serbo-Croatian
Neka nas ovaj stub podseti na porušeni hram i 176 Jevreja Vrbasa koji su ubijeni samo zato što su bili Jevreji
Translation: Let this pillar be a reminder to us all, of the destroyed temple and 176 Jews of Vrbas who were murdered only because they were Jews.
German
Diese Säule soll uns alle an den zerstörten Tempel, sowie an dien 176 Werbasser Juden erinnern, die nur deswegen ermordet wurden, weil sie Juden waren.
Translation: This pillar is meant to remind us all of the destroyed temple and the 176 Vrbas Jews who were murdered just because they were Jews.
Pannonian Rusyn (a local dialect of Ruthenian)
[mostly illegible]
English
Let this column reminds us one the ruined temple and 176 Jews of Vrbas who had been killed only because they were Jews
Hebrew
ויהיה העמוד הזה לזכר חורבן בית הכנסת ו-176 יהודי ברבס שנהרגו בזמן נאציות-פשיזם רק מפני שהיו יהודים
Translation: Let this pillar be a memorial to the ruin of this synagogue and 176 Jews of Vrbas who were killed during Nazism-fascism only because they were Jews.
Commissioned by
The Municipality of Vrbas
sub-set tree:
Sandstone
Black Granite
Unknown Stone
The synagogue in Vrbas was built in 1914 and demolished in 1948, however, not in its entirety. Three external facade pillars as well as internal pillars have been preserved. The internal pillars were incorporated into a building that currently houses a local public library. In addition, the tablets of the covenant that adorned the synagogue were brought to Israel and have been incorporated into a monument in memory of the Vrbas community in Karmiel.
One of the facade pillars was transformed into a memorial to fellow Jewish citizens of Vrbas and their synagogue. It stands at the site of the destroyed synagogue in Vrbas. The initiative for the memorial was local and the driving force for its erection was Mr. Vladimir Uvalin, historian. The memorial was unveiled on November 24, 1991. Representatives of local authorities and the Federation of Jewish Communities organized the ceremony.
No commemoration ceremonies are held at this site.
Grgurović, Vesna, Gradski muzej Vrbas (Vodič Vrbas: Kulturni centar Vrbasa, Gradski muzej, 2017)
"Memorials in Vrbas," Locations (Vojvodina Holocaust Memorials Project), https://www.vhmproject.org/en-US/Locations/Memorials/24 (accessed June 21, 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.
Uvalin, Vladimir, Jevreji u Vrbasu (Vrbas: Javna biblioteka “Danilo Kiš”, 2021)