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Monument for the Jewish Holocaust

The Monument for the Jewish Holocaust is a sculpture with faltering human figures in the shape of a seven-light lamp.

  1. Modern and Contemporary era (1912 - )


    1997 First placed at Ippokratio Hospital and uncovered by the President of the Republic Konstantinos Stefanopoulos.

    2003 Transferred to Eleftherias Square.

    2006 On February 16, Moshe Katsav was the first Israeli president to visit Greece and lay a wreath at the monument. Originally, the monument was placed in the old Jewish quarter (Settlement 151), but due to construction works , it was moved here.

  2. Ottoman era (1453- 1912)


  3. Byzantine era (331 AC- 1453)


  4. Roman era (30 BC- 330 AC)


  5. Hellenistic era (322- 31 BC)


  6. Classical era (478-323 BC)


  7. Archaic era (800-479 BC)


  8. Geometric era (-1100- 800 BC)


  9. Prehistory (-1100 BC)


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

Ζafeiris Ch., (2014), Θεσσαλονίκη, η παρουσία των απόντων, η κληρονομιά Ρωμαίων, Μουσουλμάνων, Εβραίων, Ντονμέδων, Φράγκων, Αρμενίων και Σλάβων, [Thessaloniki, the presense of the absent, the heritage of Romans, Muslims, Jews, Doenme, Franks, Armenians and Slavs], Thessaloniki: Epikentro

 

Tsitiridis G., (2019), Μνημείο Ολοκαυτώματος του Nador Glid, [Holocaust Monument of Nador Glid] in Parallaxi,

https://parallaximag.gr/thessaloniki/anakalypse-ta-glypta-tis-polis-mnimeio-olokaftomatos-tou-nandor-glid

Last visit 8/9/2020