Obj. ID: 44834
Modern Jewish Art  Holocaust memorial in Kastoria, Greece, 1996

Who is Commemorated?

Jews of Kastoria

Description

The white marble monument is located on the side of a major road that climbs the hill of the old town of Kastoria. The space widens out on the other side of Merarhias Street to create a small park with a fine view of the lake.

The form of the monument is abstract. The roughly carved stone is divided into two vertical parts which suggest the Tablets of the Law. The commemorative inscription is written in Greek and English on the right side.

Later, two little metal and glass boxes were attached to the top of the monument to contain memorial candles. One of these has fallen off and is kept in the studio of a sculptor who lives nearby.

To the right of the monument a separate inscribed marble plaque has been attached to the bedrock of the hillside, also after 1996. The words are taken from a letter by Regina Koen, a young Jewish girl of Kastoria, who left it for one of her Christian friends at the time of her deportation.

Inscriptions

In Greek:

ΣΤΗ ΘΕΣΗ ΑΥΤΗ ΣΤΙΣ
24 ΜΑΡΤΙΟU 1944 ΟΙ ΝΑΖΙ
ΣΥΓΚΕΝΤΡΩΣΑΝ ΤΟUΣ
1000 ΕΒΡΑΙΟUΣ ΤΗΣ ΚΑΣΤΟΡΙΑΣ
ΤΟUΣ ΣΕΤΕΦΕΑΝ ΣΤΑ
ΣΤΡΑΤΟΠΕΔΑ ΘΑΝΑΤΟΥ
ΤΟΥ ΑΟΥΣΒΙΤΖ
ΕΠΕΣΤΡΕΨΑΝ ΜΟΝΟΝ
35 ΕΠΙΖΗΣΑΝΤΕΣ

In English:

IN THIS PLACE, ON THE 24TH OF
MARCH 1944, THE NAZIS
GATHERED THE 1000
JEWS OF KASTORIA
AND DEPORTED THEM TO THE
DEATH CAMPS IN AUSCHWITZ.
ONLY 35 SURVIVORS
RETURNED

On Regina Koen plaque, in Greek:

Τασίτσα μου,
όταν διαβάσεις αυτά τα λόγια
δεν θα υπάρχω πια στην ζωή
θα μ’ έχει φάει η ξενιτιά
χύσε για μένα ένα δάκρυ
αν ζω ή αν πεθαίνω.
    Ρεγγίνα Κοέν

Translation: My Tasitsa, when you read these words, I will no longer be alive, I will have been eaten by foreign soil. Shed a tear for me, whether I live or die. Regina Cohen.

Commissioned by

Municipality of Kastoria