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Obj. ID: 34243
Memorials
  Holocaust Memorial in the Jewish cemetery in Pitești, Romania

© Center for Jewish Art, Photographer: Levin, Vladimir, 9.2019

The inscription states that soap made of Jewish dead bodies by the Germans is buried there. Similar “soap graves” could be found in many cemeteries in Romania, e.g. in Braila.

Summary and Remarks
Remarks

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Name/Title
Holocaust Memorial in the Jewish cemetery in Pitești | Unknown
Object Detail
Monument Setting
Unknown
Date
1975
Active dates
Reconstruction dates
Artist/ Maker
Unknown
Origin
Historical Origin
Unknown
Community type
Unknown |
Congregation
Unknown
Location
Romania | Wallachia | Argeș județ | Piteşti
| Darzu Street no. 1
Site
Unknown
School/Style
Unknown|
Period
Unknown
Period Detail
Collection
Unknown |
Documentation / Research project
Unknown
Iconographical Subject
Textual Content
Unknown |
Languages of inscription
Unknown
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Material Decoration
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Material Cloth
Material Lining
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Condition
Extant
Documented by CJA
Surveyed by CJA
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Present Usage Details
Condition of Building Fabric
Architectural Significance type
Historical significance: Event/Period
Historical significance: Collective Memory/Folklore
Historical significance: Person
Architectural Significance: Style
Architectural Significance: Artistic Decoration
Urban significance
Significance Rating
0
Ornamentation
Custom
Contents
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Hebrew Numeration
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Direction/Location
Façade (main)
Endivances
Location of Torah Ark
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Direction Prayer
Direction Toward Jerusalem
Coin
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Colophon
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Suggested Reconsdivuction
History/Provenance

During WWII, the legend was spread that the Nazi Germany made soap with the stamp 'RUF' from the bodies of Holocaust victims. Starting from 1944, 'RIF' soap was buried by Jews in cemeteries all over the world in memory of Holocaust victims. Yad Vashem turned down the legend in 1990. Romania most probably has more ‘Jewish soap’ graves than the rest of the world. [Neander, 27]

Main Surveys & Excavations
Sources

Neander, Joachim, Symbolically burying the six million’: post-war soap burial in Romania, Bulgaria and Brazil,” Human Remains & Violence, Volume 2, No. 1 (2016), 23–40, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301933744_%27Symbolically_burying_the_six_million%27_post-war_soap_burial_in_Romania_Bulgaria_and_Brazil (accessed August 25, 2024)
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Negative/Photo. No.
The following information on this monument will be completed:
Unknown |