User:Ehrlich91/Jewish Cemetery (Skopje)

Jewish cemetery in Skopje - former cemetery for the jewish community which existed in the plato along the old village “Dolno Vodno” in Skopje. They could be reached by stairs which contributed to having a monumental appearance. Жак Конфино had described  the cemetary. He had visited them in 1937 and noticed that on the entrance there was a marble plaque which stated that the cemetery are around 5 centuries old. During the visit Конфино and Behar the hakham couldn’t note the scriptures on the tombstones. Even though most of the scriptures were erased, and one could find just a letter here and there. This was due to the fact that the tombstones were placed in water level fashion, and they were made out of limestone.

From the hebrew sources back in XVI century there were mentions of two cemeteries, old and a new one. The rabbi of Skopje, around seventh decade of XVi century made a decision which stated that the soil from the old cemetery can’t be used to produce bricks.

The jewish cemetery in Skopje no longer exists, while the “Dolno Vodno” village is now part of modern Skopje. Most of the jews in Skopje were taken to the Treblinka extermination camp. Their graves remain unknown.

Around 1960 on the main cemetery in Skopje there has been a memorial monument for the victims of the fascist regimen, decorated with jewish symbols - the menorah and the shield of david. On the monument one can notice the symbol of the tragedy - a barbed wire and a chimney. The text is written in Hebrew and Macedonian.