Img. ID: 372730

Memorial Name

Mother and Child

Who is Commemorated?

Victims of Fascism in Osijek and Slavonia

Description:

The statue stands at the center of a square in front of the Jewish Community Building. Its meaning as the Holocaust memorial, however, is not definitive. Daniel Zec, who researched the Rezeptionsgeschichte (reception history) of Nemon’s statue, argued that “from the very beginning … the interpretation of the meaning of the monument varied between the war sufferings of the Jews and the universal victims of fascist terror.”

The statue represents a slim female figure raising a child with both of her hands and kissing them.

A Croatian inscription on the bronze base of the statue, on its front side, mentions the sculptor and the Jewish community of Osijek. Another Croatian inscription on the left side of the granite base mentions the victims of Fascism in Osijek and its larger region, Slavonia.

Inscription

On the granite base:

Žrtvama fašizma
Osijeka I Slavonije
1941 – 1945

Translation: To victims of Fascism in Osijek and Slavonia, 1941–1945

On the bronze base of the sculpture

Oskar Nemon i
Jevrejska općina
Osijek

Sjeti se
nikada ne zaboravi!

Translation: Oscar Nemon and the Jewish community of Osijek. Remember, never forget!

Commissioned by

Oscar Nemon and the Jewish community of Osijek