Holocaust Monuments
- This memorial in Poland serves as a grim reminder of the Holocaust.holocaust memorial, poland image by Joanna Stewart from Fotolia.com
The Holocaust occurred during World War II era and resulted in the death of over 6 million Jews at the hands of Nazi persecution. Nations and cities across the world have built monuments and memorials in remembrance of Holocaust victims. The memorials range from bronze statues to full-fledged history museums. One of the largest Holocaust-related museums in the country is the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on the Washington Mall in Washington, D.C. - Located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the Holocaust Memorial for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania faces the Susquehanna River in Riverfront Park. This 15-foot tall statue was created by renowned sculptor David Ascalon in 1994. It was an award-winning piece in a sculpture competition sponsored by the Greater Harrisburg Jewish Community's Federation. The memorial stature is on a brick terrace and the spine of the statue is a granite pillar. The granite pillar is encircled by a thick steel that resembles barbwire.
- This Holocaust memorial is in the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, located in San Francisco's Lincoln Park. The statue was created by sculpture George Segal and overlooks San Francisco Bay. The memorial consists bronze lifelike human figures that have been painted white. Most of the figures are laying flat on the ground, except for a lone figure standing by a barbwire fence. Among the religious figures on the ground is a Christ-like figure and a woman holding an apple, a reference to the Biblical figure Eve, who ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.
- The Shoah Memorial is a Holocaust museum in Paris, France, that opened its doors in 2005. This memorial features the "Wall of Names," a wall with 76,000 names of Jews who were forced from France to dwell in the Nazi concentration camps; only 2,500 of the people on the list survived the Holocaust. Other exhibitions in the museum include a crypt with a Star of David symbol in black marble. This symbol represents all the victims who perished during the Holocaust. The memorial is open every day except Saturday.
- Founded in 2002, the Holocaust Memorial Center in Budapest, Hungary, is a museum dedicated to Hungarian Jews who were victims of the Holocaust. Budapest's Holocaust Memorial Center's list of objectives includes gathering new information on the Holocaust and presenting it to the community's schools and citizens. The museum's exhibitions include Holocaust-related videos and photographs as well as motifs on the wall describing the personal journeys of Holocaust victims. Guided tours are available.
