History of The Jews in The Republic of Macedonia - The Holocaust Museum in Skopje

The Holocaust Museum in Skopje

A new museum dedicated to the memory of Macedonia's Jews who perished in the Holocaust during the Bulgarian rule was inaugurated in the presence of the country's President and representatives of Macedonia's religious communities and international Jewish organizations in 2011. The modern building is located in the heart of what was once the city's Jewish quarter (Macedonian: Еврејско маало), in the center of the Macedonian capital Skopje. Macedonia's Jewish community benefited from a 2002 law providing for the return of heirless Jewish property to the Jewish community, a law that is widely recognized as one of the best in Europe. Macedonia was widely hailed for enabling the Jews to regain their heirloom that was lost in the Holocaust. The museum opened in March 2011, with transferring the urns containing the ashes of Macedonian Jews executed in Treblinka from the Museum of the City of Skopje to the Holocaust Museum. The museum was the first one to be opened in a museum complex that includes the Archeological Museum of Macedonia and the Museum of Macedonian Independence. Major landmarks and tourist attractions, such as the Stone Bridge, Skopje Fortress and the Old Turkish Bazaar are located around the museum.

Macedonian President Dr. Gjorge Ivanov recalled the long history of co-habitation between Jews and Macedonians and said that with the loss of the Jews "a part of Macedonia had been torn out and that on the Jewish streets of Skopje, Bitola and Štip, after the war there was silence." Representatives of the Orthodox, Catholic and Muslim communities joined their Jewish countrymen in the inauguration of the museum. The museum details the history of the Macedonia's Jewish community since ancient times.

World Jewish Congress (WJC) Research Director Laurence Weinbaum pointed out that no Jewish community in Europe had suffered a greater degree of destruction than the Macedonian one.

• Transferring the urns containing ashes of Macedonia's Jews executed in Treblinka

• Inter-religious inauguration ceremony of the urns containing ashes of Macedonia's Jews executed in Treblinka as part of the opening of the new Holocaust Museum in Skopje, Macedonia

• The sign of the Holocaust Museum in Skopje, Macedonia in Macedonian, Ladino and English