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Medallion, box and card from Cyril and Methodius University of Medicine awarded to a Macedonian Jewish man

Object | Accession Number: 2011.108.22 a-c

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    Medallion, box and card from Cyril and Methodius University of Medicine awarded to a Macedonian Jewish man
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    Overview

    Brief Narrative
    Medallion awarded to Dr. Avram Sadikario in 1987 by Saints Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje Yugoslavia (now North Macedonia), where Avram began teaching in 1952. The image on the award and certificate is the emblem of Cyril and Methodius University Faculty of Medicine. Avram Sadikario was in his third year of studying medicine at the University of Belgrade when the Axis powers declared war on Yugoslavia. On April 4, 1941 he left Belgrade and returned to Bitola. Two days later Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Bulgaria invaded and partitioned Yugoslavia and the Macedonian region was occupied by Bulgaria. Anti-Jewish laws were passed that restricted Avram and his family’s lives. Later that year, Avram joined the Yugoslav Communist Party serving in and founding several underground resistance cells. In 1942 Avram accompanied his brother Sami to Sofia, Bulgaria for medical treatment. While he was gone, his resistance cell was discovered and Avram did not return home with his brother. He remained in Sofia and went into hiding. In spring 1943, Jews were expelled from the city and Avram traveled to a camp in Pleven and was held there until the end of summer. On September 8 1944, he participated in the liberation of the central prison where he remained until he was liberated by the Soviets. Germany surrendered May 7, 1945. After liberation, Avram worked for several months as state security and then as a doctor in Pleven. In June, 1947, Avram married partisan fighter Jamila Kolonomos.
    Date
    received:  1987 June 04
    Geography
    received: Skopje (Macedonia)
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Jamila Kolonomos
    Markings
    a. front, embossed : МЕДИЦИНСКИ / ФАКУЛТЕТ / СКОПЈЕ [Medical College Skopje]
    c. front, top, printed, gold ink : МЕДИЦИНСКИОТ ФАКУЛТЕТ / ПРИУНИВЕРЗИТЕТОТ / „КИРИЛИ МЕТОДИЈ” ВО КОПЈЕ /
    ПО ПОВОД 40-ГОДИШНИНАТА ОД / ПОСТОЕЊЕТО, / РАБОТАТА И РАСТЕЖОТ / ДОДЕЛУВА / ЈУБИЛЕЈНА ЗЛАТНА ПЛАКЕТА [Medical Facility Privileges “Cyril Methodius” on the 40th anniversary of the existence, work and growth awards the Golden Jubilee Plaque]
    c. front, center, printed, black ink : Проф. ԍ-р Аврам Саԍцкарцо [Prof. Avram Sadikario]
    c. front, bottom, printed, gold ink : ЗА УСПЕШНАТА РАБОТА И ПРИДОНЕСОТ / ВО РАЗВОЈОТ НА МЕДИЦИНСКИОТ / ФАКУЛТЕТ ВО СКОПЈЕ [For the successful work and contribution in the development of the medical faculty in Skopje]
    c. front, bottom left, printed, gold ink : ДЕКАН / И ПРЕТСЕДАТЕЛ НА / ОРГАНИЗАЦИОНИОТ ОДБОР/ Проф д-р Бранислав Никодијевик / illegible signature [Dean and president of the Organizational Board Prof. Dr. Banislav Nikodijevik]
    c. front, bottom right, printed gold ink : СОВЕТ НА / МЕДИЦИНСКИ ФАКУЛТЕТ / Претседател / Доц д-р Дамјан Димчевски / illegible signature [Counsel on Medical Faculty President PhD Damjan Dimchevski]
    c. front, bottom, printed, gold ink : Скопје, 4 јуни 1987 [Skopje, June 4, 1987]
    Contributor
    Subject: Avram Sadikario
    Biography
    Avram Sadikario was born on May 14, 1919 in Bitola, Yugoslavia (now North Macedonia) to a Jewish couple, Josif and Vida Sadikario. Avram had 6 siblings: 3 brothers, Mois, Solomon (Schlomo), and Sami and 3 sisters, Sol, Mirjam, and Rashela. Vida’s father was also named Avram. Josif was the son of Mosche and Mirjam Sadikario, a Sephardic Jewish couple. The Sephardi were Jews who were expelled from the Iberian Peninsula in the late 15th century. Avram’s father owned a leather shop and did business with the Jewish and non-Jewish communities. Avram’s parents were very observant. As a boy Avram was very religious always attending temple, and morning prayers and going to Torah lessons in the afternoons up until his early teens. In 1936, Avram became a member of Hashomer Hatzair, a Zionist youth organization that prepared Jewish youth for a life in Palestine. His brothers Sami and Solomon also joined. Once the Jewish children finished elementary school a select few had the option of going to the gymnasium or the commercial academy. Avram enrolled at the gymnasium and in 1938 went to the University of Belgrade in Serbia to study medicine.

    Later that year Avram became an active member of the Alliance of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia (SKOJ). On April 4, 1941 Avram returned to Bitola and two days later, Germany and its allies attacked Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia quickly capitulated and Bitola was occupied first by Germany, then by Bulgaria. Anti-Semitic laws were immediately put into effect. Jews were prohibited from leaving the city, forced to wear Star of David badges, had their shops and factories closed, were forbidden from work, were forced to live in a ghetto and had to pay 20 percent of their wealth.

    As an award for his activities with the SKOJ, Avram was invited to join the party. He served in and founded several underground resistance cells, eventually having nearly 100 Jews under his direct command. These cells distributed leaflets, organized demonstrations, and prepared to join the partisans.

    In 1942, Josif’s leather store was taken by the Bulgarian authorities and he was no longer allowed to work. Later, Avram accompanied his brother Sami to Sofia, Bulgaria, for treatment of a nerve condition. Special permits were required to Jews to travel, because Sami was sick he received one, and Avram received one as a student even though he was not currently studying. While there, his resistance cell in Bitola was discovered, forcing Avram to go into hiding with other Jews while his brother returned home. Avram stayed in hiding for several months living with a man named Slave until he was informed it was safe to return.

    Avram came out of hiding but remained in Bulgaria. After hearing about the deportations of Macedonian Jews from Bitola, Shtip and Skopje, Avram went back into hiding in Sofia, posing as a student, working in a gynecological clinic and living with a Jew. Later that spring the authorities expelled Jews from the city of Sofia. Avram, following many other Jews, travelled to a camp in Pleven, Bulgaria. On September 8, 1944, Avram participated in the liberation of the central prison. He remained there until Bulgaria was liberated by the Soviets on September 9, 1944. After liberation Avram worked for several months as state security and then as a doctor in Pleven.

    Germany surrendered May 7, 1945. Avram finished his studies and then worked in Kumanovo, Yugoslavia, running a pediatric medical clinic. In late 1946, he returned to Bitola where he learned that two of his brothers died while fighting as partisans: Solomon in 1944, near Kumanovo, and Sami in Srem. Avram’s parents, sisters and brother Mois were all deported and murdered at Treblinka killing center in German occupied Poland. Avrem moved to Skopje where he met Jamila Kolonomos (1922-2013), a widowed partisan fighter. Avram and Jamila married in 1947, and he adopted her daughter Mira. The couple had a son, Samuel. Avram worked as a doctor, and beginning in 1971, as a professor at Sts. Cyril and Methodus University. From 1974 – 1982, he served as Director of the Pediatric Clinic and retired in 1984. Avram published several books of poetry. Avram, age 88, died in August 2007, in Skopje.

    Physical Details

    Language
    Macedonian
    Classification
    Awards
    Category
    Medals
    Physical Description
    a. Shiny, rectangular, gold colored metal medal with rounded corners and pinched vertical ends. At the center is the raised emblem of Cyril and Methodius University Faculty of Medicine: a gable roof with 4 arches and, above it, a stylized snake in profile. The snake’s body is looped into 2 circles, side by side, with its head pointed up in the center, its mouth open, tongue out, and an intaglio eye. There are 3 lines of embossed Macedonian Cyrillic text at the top. The background is smooth with a raised rim. The back is flat and smooth.
    b. Rectangular, cardboard, blue plastic covered clamshell box. The lid interior is covered with white cloth and has a white ribbon band. The base has an extended lip for the lid to sit on and the center is a raised platform covered with light blue plush cloth with a depression for the medal.
    c. Thick, white, coated paper card with gold and black Macedonian Cyrillic text superimposed on the light blue emblem of Cyril and Methodius University Faculty of Medicine: a gable roof with 4 arches below a stylized snake in profile. There are signatures on the bottom left and right.
    Dimensions
    a: Height: 3.625 inches (9.208 cm) | Width: 2.250 inches (5.715 cm) | Depth: 0.125 inches (0.318 cm)
    b: Height: 5.750 inches (14.605 cm) | Width: 4.375 inches (11.113 cm) | Depth: 1.125 inches (2.858 cm)
    c: Height: 5.125 inches (13.018 cm) | Width: 3.750 inches (9.525 cm)
    Materials
    a : metal
    b : cardboard, plastic, ribbon, cloth
    c : paper, ink

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    No restrictions on access
    Conditions on Use
    No restrictions on use

    Keywords & Subjects

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    The medallion was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2011 by Jamila Kolonomos.
    Funding Note
    The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
    Record last modified:
    2022-07-28 21:51:30
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn43770

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