Desecrated, broken tombstone with carved Torah scroll from Turek Jewish cemetery
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 16.125 inches (40.958 cm) | Width: 24.750 inches (62.865 cm) | Depth: 4.125 inches (10.478 cm)
Archival History
The tombstone fragment was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1990 by the Muzeum Okregowego W Koninie.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Muzeum Okręgowe w Koninie
Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Scope and Content
Broken headstone carved with a Torah scroll, indicating the grave of a reader of the Torah, Kohen recovered during a 1989 renovation of a building in Konin county, Poland. The tombstones, from the desecrated Turek Jewish cemetery, were broken and used as paving stones for the courtyard of the local headquarters for Organization Todt. This sandstone marker was mass produced in the late 19th century. Poland was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany in September 1939. Hundreds of Jewish men from Turek were taken as forced laborers. By January, all Jewish property was confiscated and the remaining Jews were confined to a ghetto. The synagogue was set on fire and destroyed. In October 1941, the ghetto was liquidated and Turek was Judenfrei (free of Jews.) Organization Todt was in charge of road and large scale construction projects, such as factories and fortifications, for the German Reich. By the early 1940s, it controlled over a million workers, slave laborers, war prisoners, and camp inmates.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Broken, rectangular, gray sandstone grave marker carved with an archway border over a partially unrolled Torah scroll, 2 rounded scrolls with rod extensions connected by a panel, within a smooth, recessed space shaped like the 10 Commandments tablets, with remnants of blue paint. Above the tablets is Hebrew text. The archway connects to archways on each side that end at the top center. Beneath the left arch is a large, carved Hebrew character, the letter nun. Below is the top of a frame. The top and left sides are straight and intact; the bottom and right are rough and broken.
front, center, engraved : Hebrew text [? Torah reader] front, lower left, carved : Hebrew character [nun; missing the peh for po nikbar, Here Lies]
Subjects
- World War, 1939-1945--Cemeteries--Desecration--Poland--Turek.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland--Turek.
- Jewish cemeteries--Desecration--Poland--Turek--History--20th century.
- Offenses against religion--Poland--Turek--History--20th century.
- Jewish cemeteries--Destruction and pillage--Poland--Turek.
- World War, 1939-1945--Cemeteries--Destruction and pillage--Poland--Greece.
- Poland--History--Occupation, 1939-1945.
Genre
- Object
- Jewish Art and Symbolism