What I can see

Eleftherias Square was both a gathering place and the site of the martyrdom of thousands of Jews of the city during the Nazi occupation. At the edge of the square, there is a brass monument dedicated to the Holocaust, which depicts a seven-light lamp in the flames or a single flame, a cloud or a tree. The seven-light lamp is a typical religious vessel of Judaism, the flame symbolizes destruction, the cloud represents the angels who witnessed the slaughter, and the tree symbolizes rebirth and hope. All of these are represented by human forms, which are intertwined. There are two inscriptions at the base of the monument, the first containing the dedication and the date of the unveiling, and the second commemorating the visit of Israeli President Katsav.

 

What I can't see

The monument project was initiated by the Serb Nandor Glid, who lost his father and relatives in the Auschwitz camp, but he did not manage to finish it,  so it was completed by his son. The monument has been vandalized several times by anti-Semites, but it has always been restored. It is the starting point of the annual memorial procession, which ends at the old train station from which thousands of Jews left the city for the concentration camps. A similar sculpture by the same artist exists in the Dachau concentration camp.

Info

• Address: Eleftherias Sq.

Bibliography