Oradea Jewish Community

November 8, 2005

In recent months, as we have been working to gain support and approvals for the creation of a new Jewish Museum and Learning Center in Oradea, people have asked about the planning for the other major project under consideration, the new monument. It has been pointed out that the focus for two-three years has been on the new monument, its location, design, etc. So what is the status of this project?

The answer is that we have put the creation of a new memorial on hold until we have completed the Museum and Learning Center.

Everyone who knows about our goals has told us that the Museum and Learning Center is a far more important priority. We have heard from the leadership of the Jewish Community in Bucharest and Oradea, from survivors in the U.S., Canada, Israel and Romania, from our advisors, from individuals responding to our survey on our web site, etc.

After many months of discussions we have been unable to arrive at a consensus on a suitable location for the monument. Oradea officials have been responsive to our needs, making a total of four locations available to us. The limitations of each of these have been pointed out by various individuals and groups and the location continued to remain in dispute.

The new Museum and Learning Center, to be housed in the well-respected synagogue on what had been Teleki St., will itself stand as a major monument to memorialize the history and fate of the Jewish Community.

In shifting our activities to focus on the Museum and Learning Center, we are listening and responding to the needs of all those who are involved in our efforts and all those who will benefit from them.

Questions about funding have also arisen. As we made clear from the outset, funding for the monument was to be taken care of entirely by the Lempert Family Foundation, with no contributions accepted for this purpose. And while it is our intent to raise funds for the Museum and Learning Center, we will begin to do so only after approvals from the Jewish Community in Bucharest and Oradea, the City of Oradea and the County of Bihor have been obtained. No monetary contributions for any of our activities and projects have ever been solicited or accepted.

Please let us know if you have further questions or comments.

Posted: November 10, 2005