Holocaust Memorial, (sculpture).

Holocaust Memorial, (sculpture).

Fishman, Jonathan, architect.

Katzen, Lynn, designer.

Holocaust Memorial, (sculpture).

1990-1997. Dedicated Oct. 6, 1997.

Digital Reference:

Monoliths: concrete.

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

(On concrete marker, located at intersection of Gay & Lombard Streets:) HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL (On left concrete monolith:) ON BOTH SIDES OF THE TRACK/ROWS OF RED AND WHITE LIGHTS APPEARED AS FAR AS THE EYE COULD SEE.../...WITH THE RHYTHM OF THE WHEELS, WITH EVERY HUMAN SOUND NOW SILENCED,/WE AWAITED WHAT WAS TO HAPPEN. (On right concrete monolith:) ...IN AN INSTANT OUR WOMEN, OUR PARENTS, OUR CHILDREN DISAPPEARED/WE SAW THEM FOR A SHORT WHILE AS AN OBSCURE MASS AT THE OTHER END OF THE PLATFORM,/THEN WE SAW NOTHING MORE./PRIMO LEVI SURVIVAL IN AUSHWITZ (On plaque on left concrete monolith: list of major donors) (On plaque on right concrete monolith:) (photo of "Jews from Lodz Ghette Boarding the Freight Cars that will take them to the Chelmno extermination camp") Baltimore's Holocaust Memorial/Dedicated Oct. 6, 1997./Recalling the elaborate rail system used during the Holocaust to transport millions of people to/their deaths, the concrete monoliths symbolize two abandoned rail cars. Haunting messages,/written by a survivor, are the only freight these rails now carry./The rail cars separate two contrasting zones. A forbidden green sanctuary to the north can be seen/through the rail car doors, but it is inaccessible. Passage is possible only across the harsh and/desolate rail yard to the south./A triangular concrete platform breaks through parallel sets of train tracks. The triangular badge was/the Nazi symbol for prisoners, with different colors denoting different classes of prisoners./The Star of David, formed by two overlaid yellow triangles, was the symbol of the Jewish prisoner./The railyard is now vacant and the space between the tracks is overgrown. Tall, windblown/grasses grow between tracks that once carried the train cars filled with people on their final journey. (Inscription about the Holocaust on raised triangular plaque at center of memorial plaza by Deborah W. Lipstast.)

Two concrete monoliths sit on railroad tracks. Behind the concrete slabs is an unaccessible, fenced in area with grass and trees. In front of the monoliths is a concrete triangle which comprises the plaza, on either side of which are sets of four parallel tracks with weeds grown between the tracks. At the point of the triangle near the front is a raised triangle on which is a plaque. Trees line both sides of the square lot.

History -- Europe -- Holocaust

Outdoor Sculpture -- Maryland -- Baltimore

Administered by Baltimore Jewish Council, 2701 North Charles Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21202

Located Holocaust Memorial Site, Gay & Lombard Streets, Baltimore, Maryland 21202

This memorial is the redesign of an earlier Holocaust Memorial at the same site (see IAS 71500637). Because the former memorial had became a haven for illicit activity, the redesign strove to reorient the memorial toward the popular tourist enclave, the Inner Harbor. All of the former memorial was removed and redesigned except for the two concrete monoliths and the bronze sculpture "The Flame" by Joseph Sheppard, which was dedicated on the original site in 1988 (see IAS MD000557) .The total cost of the redesign was $400,000. Jonathan Fishman defined memorial themes and produced the architectural design and Lynn Katzer directed the redesign. IAS files contain transcription of text on raised triangular plaque by Deborah E. Lipstadt.

Inventory Staff, 2002.

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

Boston Globe, Dec. 29, 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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