Rostov Gov. Considers Revamping Holocaust Memorial

For the first time since the municipal government replaced a memorial to the World War II slaughter of 27,000 local Jews with a separate installation that mentioned neither Jews nor the Holocaust, Jewish community officials in Rostov-on-Don joined Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar and Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia president Alexander Barada in persuading regional Gov. Vassily Golubov to erect a more ethnically-sensitive plaque.

During the meeting, Jewish community director Michael Popepov and local Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Chaim Danzinger explained the importance of the memorial for Rostov’s estimated 10,000 Jews, many of whom lost family members in the massacre, an August 1942 mass murder by German soldiers at the Zmiyevskaya Balka site at the edge of the city. It is known as the biggest single atrocity associated with the Holocaust in Russia.

For years, a plaque identified the site as where thousands of Jews lost their lives, but it was replaced in November.

Lazar suggested making a separate memorial across the street, a proposal that Danzinger was “optimistic” would be implemented by the regional administration.

“It’s now in the hands of the state government,” said Danzinger.

The group also discussed the possible return of Rostov’s Old Choral Synagogue – now being used as a hospital – to the Jewish community.