Fundraising for the construction of a memorial sign in Volgograd in memory of people killed in the Great Patriotic War

«Holocaust remembrance is essential so that our children are never to be victims, executioners or indifferent observers.». (с) Yehuda Bauer

«Jews must attend to the city commandant's office in 24 hours. Jews must have yellow stars sewn on the left sleeve and back. Anyone who tries to hide Jews is subject to execution. ». (From the order of the military Commandant of Kotelnikovo, Volgograd Region dated August 13, 1942). 

During the Great Patriotic War, the German commandant's office was located on the 8 March square in Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad). It was there that the Jews from among the civilian population were shot. They shot in hundreds, when there were no bullets, they hung them up. Today, 75 years after the victory in the war against fascism, the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, with the support of the Russian Jewish Congress and the Volgograd Administration, has obtained permission to erect a memorial in the March 8 square in order to perpetuate the memory of Jews killed by the Nazis in Stalingrad and the region.

Control over the manufacture, installation and maintenance of the memorial structure was taken over by the VGOBO Jewish Community Center. The final amount of the project is quite large and the Management of the CF SOLOMON decided to help friendly organizations and open the raising of missing funds in order to start implementing the plan as soon as possible. Part of the funds was raised at the stage of the memorial structure coordination and planning. The funds were donated by private benefactors and the Russian Jewish Congress.

The red granite disc with the Star of David in the center will be installed exactly in the place where the Nazis carried out mass executions of Jews in 1942-1943. About these events, the German officer Groskourt, shocked by the execution of 90 Jewish children, that he witnessed, wrote to his wife: «We cannot and we must not win this war.». 

The cruelty with which the Germans dealt with the Jews is described in a thousand official documents, in the memoirs of eyewitnesses and even in the war diaries of the executioners. We remember and know it, but no one can get used to it, no one can read about it calmly, realizing what it was, that all this actually happened. 40% of the Jews killed in the Holocaust were citizens of the former USSR. Not a single monument, museum and memorial plaque will relieve the pain and horror that every sane person experiences when meets reports of how innocent people were killed. Children. Elderly. Women. Men. Everyone. Because of the nationality objectionable to the Fuhrer.

«The number of corpses is 516, including 50 children with various degrees of mutilation (from 3 to 12 years old), 323 corpses of women, 69 old people, 74 men. 139 victims, women and girls, had their arms twisted back and tied with wire, 18 of them had their breasts cut out, many had their ears, fingers and toes were cut off. The corpses of children are mutilated: fingers cut off, buttocks cut, eyes gouged out. Most of the corpses have traces of burns. 141 corpses have traces of gunshot wounds in the head and chest, 92 - strangulation stripes on the neck, which indicates hanging.». (document dated July 2, 1943, Epifanov A.E.  Stalingrad internal affairs bodies, investigation of crimes against peaceful Soviet citizens by the Germans, March 8 square).

We remember! We will remember everyone and will do everything so that our children will never forget. From the point of view of historical memory and justice, political and educational value, it is incredibly important that in Volgograd, a memorial sign should be erected to our brothers and sisters, the nameless victims, for whom we speak. The monument will stand in the center of the city with a population of over a million inhabitants, most of whom don’t know about what happened here just some 75 years ago. 

The ability to raise funds for the erection of a memorial with the help of a large number of people is an surmountable difficulty that will allow us to unite and honor the memory of the innocent Jews killed and tortured in Volgograd. This monument is our way to say «Never again». 

The fundraising amount on the Solomon Charity platform is 2.4 million rubles. Every donation is important, every donation is an eternal and blessed memory to those who didn’t see the end of the war.

Until recently, it was not customary to talk about the Holocaust in Russia. The tragedy of the entire nation was just a part of a bloody history called the Second World War, and the Jews who died were called "civilians", as for old time’s sake people were ashamed to talk about the true reasons of the mass shootings.
 
20 years ago, one of the first sociological surveys devoted to the Holocaust was conducted. 91% of the Russian population didn’t know this term, and 46% of Russians didn’t say anything about the words Auschwitz, Treblinke and Dachau. This terrible injustice developed during the years of Soviet system, memorialization was difficult, the Holocaust topic was hushed up and this had an impact on the entire Russian society.

Thanks to the enthusiasm of Jewish communities and organizations in Russia, the situation has changed and today most people are aware of what happened in our country during the war. At the same time, a 2008 enquiry showed that more than 20% of respondents believe that Jews were exterminated because they fought for power, 35% admit a repeat of the Holocaust, and only 7% of respondents indicated that they know about the tragedy of European Jewry from the academic program. In history textbooks, the Holocaust is called "one of the most dramatic episodes of World War II and the Great Patriotic War," and the tragedy of the Jewish people is giving way to the tragedy of the peoples of Eastern Europe, especially Russian.

We, the representatives of the Jewish people, are responsible for making our compatriots aware of what happened to the Jews. We must do this in the name of the memory of all innocent victims, with the belief that this will never happen again with the silent consent of other nations, when only a few dared to defend and rise up.

In Krakow, 33 high iron chairs have been installed at public transport stops in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. Anyone can sit on this chair while waiting for the bus - just like anyone at that terrible time could become a victim of the Nazis. Each chair is a memory of 1000 Jews from the Krakow ghetto. 33 thousand Jews were tortured and killed. In Russia today, no one would understand such a monument. But it is within our power to change that.

Russia lags behind all countries affected by the actions of the Nazis in the number of monuments to the victims of the Holocaust. We want each of you to be able to become a part of a great story - the story of the restoration of justice. The monument to the Jews shot in Volgograd will be constructed in the form of the Star of David, strict and intelligible. For us, as a Nation, the general fundraising for the installation of a memorial plate at the site of the mass execution of Jews is a common voice of truth. Have your say, let there be more people who know history. And every day in the center of a city with a population of millions, people will pass next to our Star of David and involuntarily remember and think about what happened and what cannot be put behind.

With the support of FJCR and the Chief Rabbi of Russia Berl Lazar