Desecrated, broken tombstone with carved bookshelf from Turek Jewish cemetery
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 15.250 inches (38.735 cm) | Width: 24.375 inches (61.913 cm) | Depth: 3.875 inches (9.843 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 bookshelf filled with books, indicating the final resting place of a scholar, 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 a raised frame with a triangular peak above a bookcase with open doors and 3 shelves of books, including one propped sideways between 2 volumes. On the right and left sides are vertical, rectangular panels with a Hebrew character, pen, on the right and nun, on the left, for po nikbar [Here Lies]. The background is smooth and recessed with leaflike embellishments. The top and sides are straight and intact; the bottom is broken off with a nearly straight edge.
front, left and right, carved : Hebrew [nun peh; po nikbar, Here Lies]
Subjects
- Jewish cemeteries--Desecration--Poland--Turek--History--20th century.
- Poland--History--Occupation, 1939-1945.
- World War, 1939-1945--Cemeteries--Destruction and pillage--Poland--Greece.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland--Turek.
- Offenses against religion--Poland--Turek--History--20th century.
- Jewish cemeteries--Destruction and pillage--Poland--Turek.
- World War, 1939-1945--Cemeteries--Desecration--Poland--Turek.
Genre
- Jewish Art and Symbolism
- Object