Holocaust Memorial, (sculpture).

Holocaust Memorial, (sculpture).

Valk, Arthur D., III, 1942- , sculptor.

Kann, Donald R., 1943- , architect.

Holocaust Memorial, (sculpture).

Monoliths: concrete.

Site: 1 acre. 2 monoliths: each L. 70 ft.

(On one wall:) WE CONSECRATE THIS MEMORIAL to the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis in Europe, 1933-1945, in the most tragic of times known as the Holocaust. Six million victims, including more than one million children, were martyred soley because they were Jews. WE REMEMBER AND SHALL NOT FORGET the genocide which the mind cannot imagine: the degradation, the starvation, the torture, the rape, the experimentation of humans, the gassings, the burnings, the mass executions. WE REMEMBER AND SHALL NOT FORGET the concentration camps - monuments to man's capacity for evil - where Jews suffered and died. (words in Hebrew: For the sanctification of God's name) WE REMEMBER AND SHALL NOT FORGET the heroic resistance of Jews in the cities, the ghettos, the forests and in the very death camps themselves. WE REMEMBER AND SHALL NOT FORGET the righteous of all faiths (repeated in Hebrew: the righteous of all faiths) who risked their lives to save Jews. WE REMEMBER AND SHALL NOT FORGET the world's silence and indifference which led not only to the Holocaust but to the deaths of millions of other people./ The People of Baltimore - November, 1980 - Cheshvan, 5741 (At bottom: Inscription of names of concentration camps.) (On plaque:) A MEMORIAL TO THE 6,000,000 JEWS WHO PERISHED IN THE HOLOCAUST. THE HOLOCAUST - THE PERSECUTION AND MASS MURDER OF EUROPEAN JEWS UNDER ADOLPH HITLER'S GERMAN DICTATORSHIP (1933-1945) - REMAINS AN EVENT UNIQUE IN HISTORY. WHILE THE SECOND WORLD WAR RAGED ACROSS EUROPE, HUGH(sic) NUMBERS OF MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN WERE METHODICALLY SEGREGATED AND CREMATED IN ENORMOUS DEATH FACTORIES BUILT EXPRESSLY FOR THAT PURPOSE. CAREFULLY RESEARCHED EVIDENCE DOCUMENTS THE FACT THAT OVER SIX MILLION JEWS WERE SLAUGHTERED BY THE NAZIS WHO BRANDED THEM AS AN INFERIOR, SUBHUMAN RACE AND SLATED THEM FOR TOTAL EXTINCTION. / THIS MEMORIAL IS A REMINDER OF THOSE DARKEST HOURS AND A TRIBUTE TO OUR EVERLATING FAITH IN THE GOODNESS OF MAN. / WHAT YOU SEE BEFORE REPRESENTS THE INTRUSION OF A COLD, DARK, BRUTAL FORCE INTO A PLEASANT, NATURAL AND WARMLY INVITING SETTING; THE INTRUSION OF THE RUTHLESS NAZI MACHINE, FOR EXAMPLE, INTO THE PLACID LIVES OF ITS UNSUSPECTING VICTIMS. IT IS ALSO INTENDED TO REPRESENT MAN'S HOPE FOR A BETTER FUTURE DESPITE THIS CRUSHING FORCE.

Two concrete monoliths, which do not touch each other, sit in a natural setting of six rows of six Bradford pear trees on a hill. Light shines through the 18-inch gap between the two monoliths. Through the gap, visitors would find an open-air sanctuary.

History -- Europe -- Holocaust

Formerly located Holocaust Memorial Site, Water & Gay Streets, Baltimore, Maryland

A result of Alvin Fisher's vision, this Holocaust memorial was erected by the Baltimore Jewish Council. It cost $350,000. Valk and Kann won the design competition and created a memorial with areas for contemplation, which were soon after taken over by derelicts from the nearby row of strip clubs. In 1997, the memorial and plaza were redesigned due to excessive vandalism as it had become a site of illicit activity. See IAS 71500638 for redesigned memorial. IAS files contain a transcription of the names of the concentration camps inscribed on the monument.

Joseph Sheppard's "The Flame" was erected and dedicated at the site of the Holocaust Memorial in 1988 (see IAS MD000557). The sculpture remained and still exists today at the redesigned memorial.

Inventory Staff, 2002.

Naylor, Henry & Caroline, "Public monuments and sculpture of Baltimore: an introduction to the collection," Bethesda, MD: The Writer's Center, 1987.

Latrobe, John H. B., "Baltimore's monuments and memorials," Baltimore, MD: J.H.B. Latrobe, c1997, pg. 106-107.

The Sun (Baltimore, MD), Oct. 5, 1997.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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