Desert Holocaust Memorial, (sculpture).

Desert Holocaust Memorial, (sculpture).

Clements, Dee, sculptor.

Loveland Sculpture Works, founder.

Desert Holocaust Memorial, (sculpture).

1995. Sculptures copyrighted 1994. Reliefs copyrighted 1995.

Sculpture: bronze; Base: marble and black granite.

Overall: approx. 10 x 60 x 91 ft.; Tallest figure: approx. H. 7 ft. 9 in.; Star of David: approx. 1 x 21 x 21 ft.

(On lower right:) Dee Clements 1994 (copyright symbol) (Heart-shaped founder's mark appears in the lower left corner) (At memorial entrance:) "He who saves one life/saves the world/The names of more than 12,000/'Righteous Gentiles'/Are embodied within this pedestal./May their deeds/Never be forgotten" "Not to weaken you/but to strengthen you/now it is up to you/Never Again" signed Founder's mark appears.

An elaborate memorial depicting the horrors of the Holocaust. In the center is a tiered Star of David on which a European map marking 19 death camps is sculpted. Seven figures, representing the various victims of the Holocaust, stand on the Star. Depicted is a "Defiant Man," who stands, clutching a cap in his clenched proper left fist. He is barefoot, and his proper left sleeve is ripped to reveal a number tattooed on his arm. His face is that of Polish artist Ludwik Puget, executed at Auchwitz in 1942. Behind him is a "Grieving Man," an older bearded Orthodox Jew, with shawl. To the right is a "Dying Man," a bald, emaciated figure in tattered clothing, seen on the ground supporting himself with both arms. A woman and two children ("Mother's Last Plea") stand to the Dying Man's proper left. The mother extends her proper right hand and appears to be shouting. The final figure is a "Lost Boy from the Ghetto." He wears a coat and cap and holds a bag in his proper left hand.

The central group is surrounded by border posts, replicas of the electrified fences used in the concentration camps. Between these posts are eleven reliefs depicting the pictorial history of the Holocaust. The relief scenes portray mass executions, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the transportation, the selection, children behind barbed wire fences, the gas chamber, the crematorium, sleeping quarters, working conditions, death marches and liberation.

History -- Europe -- Holocaust

Emblem -- Star of David

Ethnic -- Hebrew

Ethnic -- Russian

Ethnic -- Polish

Religion -- Judaism

Portrait male -- Puget, Ludwik -- Head

Outdoor Sculpture -- California -- Palm Desert

Administered by City of Palm Desert, Community Arts/Art in Public Places, 73510 Fred Waring Drive, Palm Desert, California 92260

Located Civic Center Park, Fred Waring Drive at San Pablo, Palm Desert, California

The sculpture honors the memory of the 11 million victims of the Holocaust, including Jews, Poles, Russians and Gypsies as well as the 12,000 Gentiles who tried to help them. The images were taken primarily from photographs documenting the Holocaust. IAS files contain a portion of the artist's proposal for the sculpture.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, California survey, 1995.

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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