Macedonia prepares to unveil new Holocaust memorial museum
Ninety-eight per cent of the Jews of Macedonia were murdered in Treblinka during the Holocaust. Yet, 75 years after their deportation, an extraordinary museum has opened in the country’s capital Skopje, a joint project of the government and the now-tiny Jewish community.
The Holocaust Memorial Centre, designed by renowned museum specialists Berenbaum Jacobs Associates (BJA), is due open to the public next month.
But a series of ceremonies last weekend saw the project blessed by the Bulgarian Prime Minister, members of the Macedonian government, scholars from Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, and the US special envoy for Holocaust issues, Thomas Yazdgerdi.
Dr Michael Berenbaum, principal of BJA and himself a renowned Holocaust scholar, said that the Macedonian community is one of the most ancient in the diaspora.
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