engleski

On Holocaust Memorials in Croatia: the Osijek Example

The Osijek Holocaust Memorial (unveiled 1965), dedicated to Jews of Osijek and Slavonia, is a unique example of memorializing Holocaust in Croatia. It is the only monumental sculpture to the Holocaust in the Republic of Croatia, which is integrated in the city's public space – the other Holocaust monuments and memorials are found almost exclusively at Jewish cemeteries. The author of the sculpture, designed as simple mother and child image shaped in form of a slender column, is Osijek- born Jewish sculptor Oscar Nemon (1906-1985). Local press balanced communicating the true meaning of the memorial to the public. Its interpretation was stretched between Jewish martyrdom and emphasizing the universal sacrifice of fascist terror in WWII. Finally, the monument was interpreted, installed and unveiled as a memorial to the victims of fascism. The reasons for such public presentation of Osijek Memorial are apprehensible considering the historical and political context of period of its erection – the pogrom of the Jews during WWII was presented as a part of the same tragic faith shared by all other nations in Yugoslavia. On the other hand, than time modified interpretation of the Memorial indicates the problem of Society’s facing the painful and uneasy truth about Holocaust and dealing with it. This same problem is even better illustrated by the way of marking the Jewish prison camp in village of Tenja near Osijek (which was Ustasha concentration camp from which the Jews of Osijek and Slavonia were transported in 1942 to death camps). This fact was omitted on inscription of a stone slab marking the place of the camp. Recent devastation of Tenja memorial and its restoration respectively, which kept the same dissembling inscription, speak of Croatia’s society persisting problem of facing the Holocaust and the facts about the WWII.

Holocaust, memorial, Osijek, Oscar Nemon

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