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Ke este lugar...
A new memorial tablet in the traditional language of this group of victims was unveiled on the sixtieth anniversary of the Nazi deportation of the first group of Greek Jews for extermination in Auschwitz. The Nazi Germans murdered tens of thousands of Sephardic Jewish men, women, and children in Auschwitz.
The multi-lingual and emotionally-charged ceremony, presided over by Michel Azaria, Vice-President of JEAA, began at four o’clock that first real Spring day afternoon. Jerzy Wroblewski, Director of the State Museum of Auschwitz, gave the welcoming greeting. Simone Veil, Holocaust Survivor, president of the Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah, former President of the European Parliament, gave the opening speech in French. Haim Vidal Sephiha, president of JEAA, spoke next, recalling with great emotion and eloquence how this day had come about, and about his love for the language of his ancestors; Iakov Benmayor, Vice-President of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, Greece, speaking in Judeo-Spanish, emphasized how of all the calamities that had befallen the Jews, and Sephardic Jews in particular, the Holocaust was the most devastating; Shewach Weiss, Israel ambassador in Poland; Siria Lopez, Consul General of the United States in Krakow; Michel Raineri, French Consul General in Krakow; Stefan Wilkanowicz, Vice-President of the International Auschwitz Council -- each in turn gave respect to the victims, appreciated JEAA and expressed pleasure that the plaque in Judeo-Spanish had become a reality.
Jo Wasjblatt, Survivor, chanted the memorial prayer El Maleh Rahamim and Raphy Marciano, Director of the Paris Jewish Community Center, recited the Kaddish. (They replaced Sephardic Rabbi Daniel Farhi of Paris, who was unable to attend.) Flory Jagoda sang a moving rendition of Arvoles Yoran por Luvias, a song popular among the Sepharadim in the camps particularly because of its refrain “En tierras ajenas yo me vo murir” (In strange lands I shall die).
Then came the highlight: in complete silence and anticipation Elie Perahya, from the Jewish community of Turkey, and Serge Klarsfeld, the French Nazi-hunter, pulled up the blue cloth, photographers rushing to record the moment. The text was revealed, and, as all the other plaques, it was inscribed in capital letters.
Over 300 persons took part in the ceremony. Aside from Museum staff, those in attendance included French, Israeli, American and Greek diplomats, a large group of French Jews, a group of American Jews, a group of Turkish Jews and a group of Israeli young people from Hedera.
The new plaque joins twenty others that have stood at the Birkenau memorial for several dozen years. The languages—the languages of the persons deported to Auschwitz Concentration Camp— on these tablets to the left of the main tablet are:
- Belorussian
- Czech
- German
- French
- Greek
- Hebrew
- Croatian
- Italian
- Yiddish
- Hungarian
- Dutch
- Norwegian
- Polish
- Russian
- Roma
- Romanian
- Slovak
- Serbian
- Ukrainian
- and now Judeo-Spanish (Ladino)
To the right of the main tablet is one in English, as an international language.
