| THE JEWISH CEMETERY, CORFU - BACKGROUND NOTES,
WRITTEN CA. 1988-89 by Akiva Kenneth Segan (revised April 29, 2002)
Drawing on paper with added collage on the mat and wooden frame
1985-90
GETTING THERE….
I visited Corfu (called Kerkira in European maps) in the fall of 1985
and spent an afternoon at the ancient Jewish cemetery outside of the
port town of Corfu (Corfu also being the island). Corfu is the furthest
northwest of any Greek territory; it lies to the south of Albania and
Italy is to the west across the Adriatic Sea.
Ferries cross from Bari, Italy bringing tourists to and from Corfu.
When I visited I came by ferry from Dubrovnik in southwest Yugoslavia,
this was before the war tore apart Yugoslavia.
THE NAZI’S….
The Jewish communities of Greece and Yugoslavia suffered terribly at the
hands of the Nazi’s. Being so removed geographically and culturally
from the northern Jewish communities of eastern and western Europe makes
the barbarity of the near end of their thousands year long presence in
Greece seem all the more horrific.
The Corfu Jews were rounded up and taken by boat to the Greek
mainland. They were deported in train cars all the way to southern
Poland where they were unloaded at Auschwitz. More men than women
survived the death camp, and those returned without their mothers,
wives, girlfriends, daughters. It was a bitter end to a rich and long
history.
In 1985 the cemetery was parched dry and overgrown with weeds. Like its
counterparts in Krakow and Warsaw, there are graves of recently deceased
Jewish Holocaust survivors around the cemetery.
Former United Nations Secretary General and Austrian President Kurt
Waldheim was a Nazi "intelligence officer" in Yugoslavia and
Greece. His work was responsible for the murders of thousands of Jews
and non-Jewish Greek and Yugoslavian partisans. Until his war time
activities were revealed against his wishes, he remained silent about
his blood stained history.
Afterwards, he never expressed contrition or remorse. One among
hundreds of thousands or millions of Nazi’s involved in the murder of
civilians, his story is a shining example of how a human being can
become a monster and rise to a position of great power and prestige
afterwards.
THE ARTWORK….
The drawing was done on–site in the cemetery of several gravestones.
After I returned to Seattle, I embellished the mat and worked on the
frame. The Hebrew carved into the bottom center of the picture frame is
etched onto a gravestone in the cemetery. On the stone is seen the image
of a fist holding a knife, which is probably a family crest or emblem.
There are two brothers buried there by the surname of Moustaki. One was
involved in Zionist activities and the other a member of the local
Jewish burial society. Both died before the war.
The symbol of the two hands is seen on Jewish gravestones elsewhere in
Europe and perhaps in other Jewish communities. It symbolizes the Hebrew
letter Shin. This letter represents the the first letter of the word
Shaddai, which is a synonym usage for G-D (God). Jewss with gravestones
with this image are descendants of Kohenim, i.e. members of the priestly
class of ancient times.
The word "Anulowano" at upper left of the mat is the Polish
word for Void (as in Null & Void), which was stamped in my passport
each time I left Poland.
Oyzo at upper left was drawn from the label from a bottle of Ouzo I
bought (and drank. The ouzo I drank in Corfu was beyond smooth. The
image at upper right of the mat of a camel was drawn from the shoe
polish can cover (attached to top of frame) I had bought at a Corfu
store. |