The Holocaust Memorial - The Creation of the Holocaust Memorial...

1. The Beginning - The first sculpture is of a mother and two nestling children fearful as the signs of the Holocaust first appear. Their faces ask... "can it happen?" . . . "will God forsake us? The sculpture is framed by Anne Frank's message"... that in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart."

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2. The Arbor of History - A semicircular colonnade of Jerusalem stone columns support a wooden arbor with white bougainvillea vines. Following the arbor is a series of black granite slabs etched with photographs of the tortured Holocaust history. Professor Helen Fagin, the Memorial's historian, wrote the poignant introduction and captions.

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3. A Garden of Meditation - Some artists depict the Holocaust only in the dimensions of its horrors with concrete, metal and barbed wire. I broadened the theme to include a serene and peaceful garden ... dedicated to the memory of the beautiful European culture and its six million Jewish souls ... now lost. The garden is composed of a large plaza of Jerusalem stone, a 200-foot-diameter water lily pond, and a classic semicircular colonnade and arbor... all set against a backdrop of a dense green palm forest.

4. The Dome of Contemplation - The procession continues into an area enclosed by a dome and semicircular wall with an eternal memorial flame and inscription from the Twenty-Third Psalm. Piercing the dark interior of the dome is a shaft of yellow light projected from a central yellow star of David with the black letters "Jude," the patch of ignominy.

5. The Lonely Path - The next space is a dark and lonely stone tunnel illuminated by this slats of sunlight, the haunting voices of Israeli children singing songs from the Holocaust and the solemn memory of the camps carved into its walls. A crying child is seen in the distance and cries louder as one approaches along this lonely path.

A juxtaposition of spaces is created so that as one emerges from the dark and repressive tunnel and enters into the sculpture patio he experiences a burst of sunlight and a soaring space crowned only by the blue sky.

6. The Sculpture of Love and Anguish - This is my portrayal of the Holocaust ... frozen in a patined bronze. A giant outstretched arm, tattooed with a number from Auschwitz, rises from the earth, the last reach of a dying person. Each visitor has his own interpretation ... some see despair ... some hope ... some the last grasp for life . . . and for some it asks a question to God... "Why?"

7. A Series of Vignettes - Bronze tormented figures precariously cling to the skin trying miraculously to escape. The entire scene is a series of vignettes where families try to help each other in a final act of love. Caught in the abyss, fathers help mothers ... mothers gather children .. . children comfort babies ... all expressing the mixed emotions of terror and compassion.

8. Sensing Both Love and Fear - The free-standing bronze figures surrounding the base are life-size so that the viewer becomes part of the sculpture ... he touches and fondles ... he senses both love and fear.

9. The Memorial Wall - The next path in the journey is a silent one . . . a walk past black granite panels etched with the names of countless martyred victims submitted by their loved ones.

10. The Final Sculpture - The journey ends. The final sculpture depicts the same mother and two children who started the journey . . . now dead ... framed by the words of Anne Frank ... "ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us only to meet the horrible truths and be shattered:"

Click image to see the granite slabs!

11. Never Shall We Forget - The totality of the Holocaust can not be created in stone and bronze . . . but I had to try. The rich diversity of the European culture, now lost, cannot be expressed . . . but I had to try. The murder of one and one half million children show joys turned to sorrow suddenly on September 1, 1939, when World War II broke out, cannot be sculpted ... but I had to try Six million moments of death cannot be understood ... but we must all try.