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| One of the reactions on the most shameful event in the history of the Jewish Community of Stockholm. |
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 Crystal Night commemoration |
Today is the anniversary of a particularly shameful event in the history of the Jewish Community of Stockholm. On that day last year, The Jewish Congregation physically and without an explanation removed the Holocaust Monument which was erected to commemorate the lives of young women and men, Holocaust survivors, who succumbed to death in Sweden shortly after liberation. They were buried in the cemetery and their families perished in the death camps symbolized by the Monument’s six stones.
Paradoxically, the Monument has been established jointly with the Jewish Congregation of Stockholm and the Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association (SHMA) and supported by Heckscher Foundation as well as other private funds. The Jewish Congregation of Stockholm has specifically approved the design and site of the Monument, as previously jointly presented to Stockholm City Council in January 2019.
The Monument unveiling ceremony took place on October 6, 2019 at the North Jewish Cemetery in Stockholm attended by many. The Monument consists of six simple memorial stone stubs representing six death camps as well as six million Jews who perished. The stones have been placed among the graves of about 80 Holocaust victims who died shortly after their return to Stockholm and were buried at the North Jewish Cemetery. They were among approximately 600 survivors brought from Bergen-Belsen, Germany to Stockholm Harbour in UNRRA White Boats mission to seek medical care. As part of the Monument these 80 gravestones, neglected hidden for almost 75 years by the Jewish Congregation and Chevra Kaddisha, were dug out, uncovered and cleaned by the members of Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association.
Each now uncovered tombstone contains personal information about single Holocaust victim, including date of birth, country of origin and the date of death. Many of the victims were children or in their early teens when the WWII had started and thus were very young when they all died in the 1945-46 in Stockholm. Poland, Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Germany, Yugoslavia, Greece were among the countries of birth.
The assembly of these newly unearthed tombstones together with the memorial stones provides a unique
and precious information about the otherwise completely lost individuals and their tragic histories.
The personalized experience and the testimonies (direct or indirect) of the fate of single individuals seems absolutely crucial in efforts to educate future generations about the Holocaust and to preserve the memory of the Holocaust.
The protocol from the Stockholm Jewish Congregation Council about this shameful act is signed by mr. Verständig and mr. Reichel.
