Obj. ID: 50486
Jewish Funerary Art 'The Witness Tombstone' Holocaust Memorial in the Jewish Cemetery in Lima, Peru
Memorial Name
The Witness Tombstone
Description
This memorial is located at the edge of the Jewish Cemetery in Lima, in a patch of grass defined by low bushes and flanked by several palm trees. The memorial sits in the center of this grass, on a floor of stone slabs.
The central monument is a grey stone obelish capped with a menorah that bears an inscription in Hebrew. Connected to the front of the obelisk is a grey stone lectern with an open stone book on it that has a biblical inscription, and a light in front of that. Flanking the obelisk, also connected to it, are stone blocks that bear small plaques on them.
The base of the memorial is made of white stone, and bears a plaque in its front-left corner that has the names of the sponsors and date of the monuments innaguration. On this base surrounding the memorial on three sides are low white stone pillars connected by a black metal chain. The fourth, back, side of this border is composed of a wall of names that with menorah decorations.
Who is Comemmorated?
Jewish Victims of the Holocaust
Jewish Communities destroyed in the Holocaust
Relatives of Local Jewish Community Members murdered in the Holocaust
Inscriptions
On the obelisk face (Hebrew)
כי דם עבדיו יקום
ונקם ישיב לצריו
"מצבת עד"
לאחינו ואחיותינו
שמסרו נפשם
על קידוש השם
כנפלם בידי
הזדונים המנואצים
באירופה בשנות
ת'ש תש''ה
פה נטמן
צרור אפר
משש מאות
ריבוא קדושים
הי''ד
במותם צוו לנו
את החיים למען
נצח ישראל
וקיום מלכותו
ת. נ. צ. ב. ה.
קהילת לימה
ניסן ה' תשי''ט
Translation: 'For He'll avenge the blood of His servants, [and] wreak vengeance on His foes' [Deuteronomy 32:43, translation from JPS 2006] "Witness Tombstone" To our brothers and sisters who gave their lives for the sanctification of God when they fell at the hands of the malevolent men in Europe in the years 1940 - 1945. Here are buried the ashes from six hundred thousand martyrs- may God avenge their blood -who, in their deaths, commanded us to live for the sake of Israel's eternity and the existence of His kingdom. May their souls be bound in the bundle of life. The Community of Lima, 5 Nisan 5719
Book (English)
וניקיתי דמם לא ניקיתי
וד'' שוכן בציון
Translation: Their unavenged blood shall be avenged [lit: Thus I will treat as innocent their blood that I have not treated as innocent and God shall dwell in Zion (Joel 4:21, translation via the revised JPS)
Translation:
Left plaque (Spanish)
La Federación Latinoamericana de los
Sobrevivientes judíos de la persecución Nazi
rinde homenaje a la memoria
de los seis millones de mártires judíos.
Lima, Octubre-Noviembre de 1972.
Translation: The Latin American Federation of Jewish Survivors of Nazi Persecution pays tribute to the memory of the six million Jewish martyrs. / Lima, October-November 1972.
Right plaque (Spanish)
Homenaje de la
Sexta Conferencia de
Comunidades Judías de
América Latina.
A las Kehilot europeas aniquiladas por el Nazismo.
Lima, Octubre-Noviembre de 1972
Translation: Tribute of the Sixth Conference of Jewish Communities of Latin America. To the European Jewish Communities annihilated by Nazism. / Lima, October-November 1972
Over the list of names
Hebrew
על מצבה זאת
הרותים לזכרון
חלק משמות בני עמנו שנספו בשואה
ושארי משפחותיהם שבלימה השתבפו בהנצהת זכרם
Translation: On this gravestone we erected as a memorial are some of the names of our people who perished in the Holocaust, and the rest of their families in Lima took part in commemorating their memory.
Spanish
Aquí yacen cenizas de los seis millones de mártires del régimen Nazi 1933-1945
traídos de campos de exterminio de Europa Central para perpetuar la memoria
de aquellos emparentados miembros de esta colectividad
se grabaron sus nombres al pie de este monumento. Lima, mayo de 1959
Translation: Here lie the ashes of the six million martyrs of the Nazi regime 1933-1945 brought from extermination camps in Central Europe to perpetuate the memory of the family members of this community; their names were engraved at the foot of this monument. Lima, May 1959
Sponsor plaque (Spanish)
Se erigió este monumento
siendo presidentes de la
Asoc. De Soc. Israelitas del Peru
durante este periodo los Sres.
Nissim Alalu, Kurt Berger
y Michel Radzinski
y Miembros del Comité Encargado de
su Ejecución los Sres.
Mardocheo Franco, Max Heller y Armin Inda.
Se inauguró el 21 de junio de 1959
Translation: This monument was erected when Nissim Alalu, Kurt Berger and Michel Radzinski were the Presidents of the Jewish Community of Peru, and Mardocheo Franco, Max Heller, and Armin Inda were Members of the Committee in Charge of its Execution. / It was inaugurated on June 21, 1959
Commissioned by
The Local Jewish Community
