Obj. ID: 48041
Modern Jewish Art Memorial at the site of the "Town Ghetto" in Slutsk, Belarus, 2007
Memorial Name
Memorial sign to the victims of the Slutsk Ghetto on Kopylskaya street in Slutsk
Who is Commemorated?
The Jews killed in the "Town Ghetto" of Slutsk during the Holocaust
Description
The memorial is erected at the site where the entrance to the "Town Ghetto" in Slutsk once stood. The memorial consists of 10 granite stones surrounded by a metal grating with large spaces between the grates; haphazard metal bands cover portions of the squares, seemingly at random.
The paths leading to the memorial have boulders on their sides with inscriptions in Belarussian.
At the entrance, there are additional stones with plaques in Belarusian.
Inscriptions
All the inscriptions are written in Belarussian.
On the large boulder by the street:
Гэта нашы попел і слёзы
Translation:: These are our ashes and tears.
On the six lone boulders:
Кахалі
Вучыліся
Сябравалі
Стваралі
Верылі
Развітваліся
Translation: Loved / Learned / Befriended / Created / Believed / Said Farewell
On the left entrance plaque:
«На гэтым месцы
ў гады вайны
знаходзілася гета
горада Слуцка.
7-8 лютага 1943 года
фашысты
знішчылі і спалілі
3000 чалавек»
Translation: The Ghetto of the City of Slutsk / was located at this place / during the war. / February 7-8, 1943 / fascists destroyed and burnt / 3,000 people
On the right entrance plaque:
АЎТАР ПРАЕКТА
АРХІТЭКТАР ЛЕАНІД ЛЕВІН
МЕМАРЫЯЛЬНЫ ЗНАК
УЗВЕДЗЕНЫ ПРЫ ДАПАМОЗЕ СПОНСАРАЎ
СЛУЦКАГА РАЙВЫКАНКАМА
СЛУЦКАЙ ЯЎРЭЙСКАЙ АБШЧЫНЫ
САЮЗА БЕЛАРУСКІХ ЯЎРЭЙСКІХ
ГРАМАДСКІХ
АБ’ЯДНАННЯЎ І АБШЧЫН
ТВОРЧАЙ МАЙСТЭРНІ
АРХІТЭКТАРА Л.ЛЕВІНА
ГРАМАДЗЯНІНА ЗША ДЖЭРРЫ ВАЙНЕРА
ФОНДА САЙМАНА М. ЛАЗАРУCА
(ВЯЛІКАБРЫТАНІЯ)
ПІНСКАЯ ЯЎРЭЙСКАЯ АБШЧЫНА
СЛУЧЧАН, ЯКІЯ ПРАЖЫВАЮЦЬ У ЧЫКАГА
ЕЎРА-АЗІЯЦКАГА ЯЎРЭЙСКАГА КАНГРЭСА
ГРАМАДЗЯНІНА СЛУЦКА А.САМУСЕВІЧА
ЯЎРЭЙСКАГА АГЕНСТВА
ДЛЯ ІЗРАІЛЯ “САХНУТ”
Translation: Author of the project architect Leonid Levin / Memorial Sign / Erected with the help of sponsors / Slutsk District Executive Committee / Slutsk Jewish community / Belarusian Jewish public associations and communities / Creative workshop of architect L. Levin / USA Jerry Weiner / Fund Simon M. Lazarus (UK) / Pinsk Jewish community / The Euro-Asian Jewish Congress / Natives from Slutsk living in Chicago / Citizen of Slutsk A Samusevych / The Jewish Agency for Israel "Jafi"
Commissioned By
The Jewish Community of Slutsk, funded through donations
17 image(s)
sub-set tree:
Natural stones
Silumin
Metal
Metal 'grate' 1.2-4.2 meters high
In 1939, 7,392 Jews resided in the town, comprising 33.7 percent of the total population. The Germans occupied Slutsk on June 27, 1941. At the end of 1941-beginning of 1942 two ghettos were established: the "Field Ghetto" (on the northern outskirts of Slutsk) where Jews unable to work were imprisoned, and the "Town Ghetto" for working Jews (situated in the old Jewish quarter of the town, Shkolishche), closer to the town center. The "Field Ghetto" was gradually liquidated in the spring of 1942. On February 8, 1943, the Germans liquidated the "Town Ghetto." [Untold Stories]
There are several monuments in Slutsk commemorating victims of the Holocaust. This memorial at the entrance to the "town" ghetto was constructed the last. The memorial was unveiled on September 16, 2007.
Architect Leonid Levin wrote about his artistic idea:
"I tried to use a small plot of land
Allocated for the construction of a memorial sign ...
There are ten granite stones in each corner of the composition.
The number 10 symbolizes the number of people, minyan,
Reading the Torah in the synagogues.
If there is no minyan,
One cannot read the Torah.
During the war they killed everyone.
There is no minyan - there is no one to read the Torah ...
The territory of the memorial Is fenced with chaotic, metal elements
As a symbol of fire
At this memorable place." [Levin, 2011]
The Opening Ceremony was attended by representatives of the regional authorities, the author of the Memorial, the Ambassador of the State of Israel, Jewish public organizations, rabbis, local Orthodox priests, and the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress.
Memorial ceremonies take place annually on January 27, February 7-8 (the day of Slutsk Ghetto destruction), May 9, (Victory Day), and July 3.
Vandalism
The monument was vandalized in 2008 in 2009. In both cases, the monument was painted with svastikas.
Bogdashich, Sergei, "Otkryt pamiatnyi znak uznikam slutskogo getto," Infa-Kurier, Septeber 20, 2007, https://kurjer.info/2007/09/20/otkryit-pamyatnyiy-znak-uznikam-slutskogo-getto/ (accessed March 1, 2023)
Levin, Leonid, Perezhit perezhitoe (Minsk: 2011)
"Neizvestnyi vandaly pazrisovali pamiatnik uznikm Slutskogo getto," Kurjer-info, April 21, 2008, https://kurjer.info/2008/04/21/neizvestnye-vandaly-razrisovali-pamyatnik-uznikam-sluckogo-getto/ (accessed March 5, 2023)
Sahm, Astrid, Architektur als Gratwanderung. Leonid Levin – ein Werk als Brücke von Gedächtnis und Gegenwart (Minsk: IBB, 2008)
"Slutsk," Untold Stories - Murder Sites of Jews in Occupied Territories of the USSR (Yad Vashem project), https://collections.yadvashem.org/en/untold-stories/community/14621542-Slutsk (accessed March 1, 2023)
Smilovitsky, Leonid. "Po sledam evreiskikh kladbishch Belarusi. Slutsk," Masterskaia, April 25, 2019 [In Russian]., https://club.berkovich-zametki.com/?p=46806 (accessed February 28, 2023)
"V Slutske oskvernili pamiatnik zhertvam Hkolokosta, Jewish.ru, July 31, 2009, https://jewish.ru/ru/news/articles/128890/ (accessed March 5, 2023)