Menorah in flames is a sculpture created in 1997 by Nandor Glid as a Holocaust memorial commemorating deportation of the Thessaloniki Jews.
The sculpture, initially built in a suburban area has been installed since 2006 on Eleftherias Square where a major roundup of 9,000 Jewish men took place in 1942.[1]
It was the first Holocaust memorial to be built on a public space in Greece and its installation marks a change of attitude of Greek officials towards the remembrance of the Holocaust. The monument is regularly vandalized.
The base of the sculpture is built out of grey marble. The sculpture consists of a menorah created out of human bodies and flames. There are two plaques; one in Greek and English, and one in Greek, Hebrew, and English.
Inscription of the first plaque (in English):
DEDICATED BY THE GREEK PEOPLE TO THE MEMORY OFTHE 50,000 JEWISH GREEKS OF THESSALONIKI,DEPORTED FROM THEIR MOTHER CITYBY THE NAZI OCCUPATION FORCESIN THE SPRING OF 1943, ANDEXTERMINATED IN THE GAS CHAMBERS OFTHE AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU DEATH CAMPSNOVEMBER 1997
Inscription of the second plaque (in English):
IN MEMORY OF THE 50,000 JEWS FROM THESSALONIKI, VICTIMS OF THE HOLOCAUSTKAROLOS PAPOULIAS, PRESIDENT OF THE HELLENIC REPUBLICMOSHE KATSAV, PRESIDENT OF THE STATE OF ISRAELON THE OCCASION OF THE FIRST STATE VISIT OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE STATE OF ISRAELTO THE HELLENIC REPUBLIC16th FEBRUARY 200618 SHVAT 5766[2]