International Programme on the occasion of the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Novi Sad Raid
Terraforming invites you to an international program on the occasion of marking the Day of Remembrance of the victims of the Novi Sad Raid:
23. januara u 18:30 sati
Cultural Station Egység, Antona Čehova 4, Novi Sad
Exhibition of graphic works about the Novi Sad Raid
As part of the program, you will have the opportunity to see an exhibition of graphic works about the Novi Sad Raid created during workshops with guest artists, students, and experts in the field of archival pedagogy and education about the Holocaust from the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Romania and Serbia.
A new collection of testimonies
Also, we will present a new collection of testimonies “Stories of Death and Life from Box 183”. It is a collection of testimonies of Jews of Bačka who survived the Holocaust, collected by the author Vladimir Todorović. The collection also includes previously unpublished testimonies and lists of victims. The publication of the book was supported by the Jewish Cultural and Humanitarian Foundation “Sabitaj Buki Finci”, Belgrade and the Jewish Community of Novi Sad. The book was awarded at the 68th prize competition of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Serbia for works with a Jewish theme, for 2024. The publisher of the book is Terraforming.
Panel Talk
The highlight of the program is certainly an international panel talk at with, among others, these speakers:
- Birthe Pater, Director of Education at the Arolsen Archives, Germany
- Gabriel Kousbroek, illustrator and author from Amsterdam
- Eugenie Khatschatrian, Operations Coordinator at EuroClio, a European organization dedicated to inspiring history and citizenship educators, the Netherlands
- Vladimir Todorović, author of the collection of testimonies “Stories of Death and Life from Box 183” from Novi Sad
- Dragana Stojanović, professor at the Faculty of Media and Communication from Belgrade.
- Artists from Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Romania and Serbia, as well as students of the III and XIV Belgrade Gymnasium with teachers – participants of a two-day workshop on graphic novels about the Holocaust
The program is hosted by Miško Stanišić and Nevena Bajalica, Terraforming.
Admission is free.
Welcome!
The program is part of a wider international project Facts not Fiction in which Terraforming collaborates with partners Arolsen Archive, EuroClio and Intercultural Institute Timisoara, with the support of the European Union.
The monument “Family” on the Quay of the victims of the Raid in Novi Sad, the work of sculptor Jovan Soldatović, is dedicated to the victims of the Novi Sad Raid
Raid in Southern Bačka in 1942
The Novi Sad Raid or simply the Raid was a mass crime committed in January 1942 by the Hungarian fascists, i.e. the armed forces of the Hungarian occupation authorities with the support of part of the local Hungarian population, mainly against Serbs and Jews, but also against members of other ethnic groups. The Raid was carried out during World War II, between 4 and 29 January 1942, on the territory of the Hungarian occupation zone in Southern Bačka. The territory was first occupied and then formally annexed to Hungary in December 1941.
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The action of the Hungarian fascists began in the Šajkaš region from 4 to 19 January, continued in Novi Sad from 21 to 23 January, and ended in Bečej from 25 to 29 January.
It is estimated that about 4,000 civilians were killed in this crime, mostly Serbs (at least 2,578) and Jews (at least 1,068), but also others (Roma, Ruthenians, Russians, Hungarians and others).
Consequences
The raid left a deep trauma and lasting consequences on the population of South Bačka, but also throughout Vojvodina. In small towns and villages with a predominantly Serb population, where this crime severely affected practically every household, a significant part of the population was killed, and entire families perished. In addition, especially the more prominent, educated, and wealthy Serbs were killed. Such a loss has left far-reaching and long-lasting consequences for the local community.
The Jewish community of South Bačka suffered severely, especially in Novi Sad. In proportion to the share of Jews in the total population, the Jewish community suffered a huge loss in the Raid. In some parts of the country, almost the entire Jewish population was killed. In Novi Sad alone, at least 20% of the total number of Jews were killed in this crime, which means that within three days Hungarian fascists killed at least every fifth Jew in Novi Sad. Since the terror against Jews continued throughout the Hungarian occupation, culminating in the deportation of the Jews of Bačka to German death camps in 1944, by the end of the war almost 80% of the Jewish population in Bačka had been destroyed.