Obj. ID: 55435 Memorial to deported Jews at the train station in Sighetu Marmației, Romania, 2014
Name of Monument
No official name
What/Who is commemorated?
Jews deported from Sighet
Description
A rectangular marble plaque is affixed to the exterior wall of the train station, to the left of the main entrance.
Inscriptions
In Romanian:
ÎN LUNILE MAI-IUNIE 1944, 131.639 DE EVREI, BĂRBAŢI,
FEMEI ȘI COPII DIN TRANSILVANIA DE NORD, AFLATĂ
SUB OCUPAȚIA FASCISTĂ A REGIMULUI HORTHY,
AU FOST DEPORTAŢI DE CĂTRE JANDARMERIA HORTYSTĂ
ȘI PREDAŢI AUTORITĂŢILOR NAZISTE. APROAPE TOŢI
AU FOST EXTERMINAŢI. DIN GARA SIGHETU MARMAŢIEI
AU FOST DEPORTAȚI ÎN ZILELE DE 16, 18, 20 ȘI 22 MAI 12.849 DE EVREI.
FIE CA MEMORIA ACESTEI TRAGEDII SĂ RĂMÂNĂ VIE
CA UN AVERTISMENT PENTRU GENERAŢIILE VIITOARE.
INSTITUTUL NAŢIONAL PENTRU STUDIEREA
HOLOCAUSTULUI DIN ROMÂNIA "ELIE WIESEL" -- MAI 2014
Translation: In the months of May-June 1944, 131,639 Jews, men, women and children of Northern Transylvania, under the fascist occupation of the Horthy regime, were deported by the Horty’s police and surrendered to the Nazi authorities. Almost all they were exterminated. From Sighetu Marmaţiei station 12,849 Jews were deported on May 16, 18, 20 and 22. May the memory of this tragedy remain alive as a warning to future generations. / National Institute for Study of the Holocaust in Romania "Elie Wiesel" -- May 2014
Commissioned by
National Institute for Study of the Holocaust in Romania "Elie Wiesel"
2 image(s) Items per page
Between the two world wars, the Romanian Iron Guard regularly threatened the Jews. After the annexation of Transylvania by Hungary in 1940, Jews were conscripted for forced labor and later put in a ghetto from which 12000 were deported through this train station during the Holocaust.
The plaque was attached to the exterior of the station in 2014 marking the 70th anniversary of the deportations. At the time, three survivors and almost one hundred descendants of Sighet Jews visited the town for commemorative events. According to Peninah Zilberman, one of the organizers of the events, "One of the highlights of the event was on Motzei Shabbat – Lag Ba'omer – where a memorial service was held at the Train Station from where over 14,000 Jews were deported directly to Auschwitz over the period of a week, May 16-22, 1944."
The plaque was installed at the station. A few years later a second plaque was installed to commemorate deported Jews, as especially the family of Elie Wiesel, and to acknowledge the Nobel Laureate himself after his death in 2016.
Zilberman, Peninah, “Return to Sighet,” Jerusalem Post, June 15, 2014., https://www.jpost.com/jewish-world/jewish-features/return-to-sighet-359374#google_vignette (accessed August 18, 2024)