HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL OF THE JEWS OF MACEDONIA (НА ХОЛОКАУСТОТ ОД НА НА НА ОД)

The Holocaust Memorial Center for the Jews of Macedonia (Меморијален Центар на Холокаустот на Евреите од Македонија/Memorijalen Centar na Holokaustot na Evreite od Makedonija, Qendra Memoriale të Holokaustit të Hebrenjve nga Maqedonisë) is located on the site of Evresko Maalo, the former Jewish quarter of Skopje that disappeared in the 1963 earthquake. Created as part of the "Skopje 2014" project, it is installed in a rather ugly gray building. The exhibition recalls the long tradition of local Jewish culture and its brutal end with the deportation of 7,143 Jews from the territory of present-day North Macedonia to the Treblinka death camp in 1943. Today, there are only about 100 Jews left in the country. The Jewish presence in the region dates back to antiquity, but the vast majority of Jews in the Balkans (from Sarajevo to Thessaloniki via Skopje, Štip and Bitola) are descendants of the Sephardim expelled from Spain in 1492 and welcomed here by the Ottomans. At the entrance, the name of the museum is written in Ladino (a language with Castilian vocabulary and Hebrew syntax): Sentro Memorial del Holokausto de los Djudios de la Makedonia. On two levels, the memorial exhibits a cattle car that was used for the deportation of the Jewish inhabitants, portraits and documents of the period, in the form of paintings or interactive screens. The purpose of this place is not only to remember this community, but also to propose bases for reflection for today's multicultural society.