Obj. ID: 44808
Memorials Holocaust Memorial in Beth Torah Benny Rok Campus in North Miami Beach, FL, USA, 1980s
To the main object: Beth Torah Benny Rok Campus in North Miami Beach, FL, USA
Memorial Name
Holocaust Memorial Wall
Who is Commemorated?
Victims of the Holocaust
Description
The Holocaust Memorial Wall is located above the inside entrance of the synagogue sanctuary. The massive, embossed copper relief is mounted above the three entrance doors, and it spans most of the width of the wall. It is a composite of more than 30 rectangular copper panels which are combined to form three main sections of the sculpture. The main central section consists of a lower part that is covered by a grid of squares suggesting prison bars. Scenes of suffering are shown behind (or under) the grid and on top of it are the names of camps and killing sites and the dates 1940 to 1945.
Above this is a large composition. That includes different types of figures around flames. Some heads and figures are entirely engulfed by flames. Other detailed figures, including the Warsaw Ghetto boy with his hands up, known from the famous photo in the Stroop Report, are shown standing in an area within a barbed wire enclosure while flames seem to come from below. Behind these figures is a crowd of many more undifferentiated figures, all with their arms raised. Above these, six large birds are shown flying across the top of the composition.
Framing the main composition are panels showing two applied fluted pilasters on each side and an inscription above each of them. At the bottom of the relief, extending further outward away from the doors, are two panels. On the left is inscribed in large letters, “Remember,” and on the right is inscribed in Hebrew, זכור.
Inscriptions
Within the composition
Dates
1941 1942 1943 1944 1945
Killing Sites
Belzek Warsaw Neugasse Natzweiler Auschwitz Landsberg
Birkenau Gross Rosen Floseenberg Theresienstadt Chemo
Kulmhof Dora Lublin Rabensbruck Stuffhof Majdanek
Above the fluted pilasters (English and Hebrew)
"We the living
who will never forget"
לא ישכח
Translation: [We] will not forget
"They,
who will never be forgotten"
לא ישכחן לעד
Translation: [They] will never be forgotten
On the side panels (English and Hebrew)
Remember
זכור
On the plaques directly above the doors
Left
Holocaust Memorial Wall
Right
Endowed by Phylis and Norman Meier
Commissioned By
Phylis and Norman Meier
sub-set tree:
| 20350 NE 26th Ave, North Miami Beach, FL 33180
H | Holocaust | Concentration camp | Barbed wire
H | Holocaust | Concentration camp | Prisoner
F | Family | Mother | Mother and child
J | Jewish children
B | Bird
H | Human Figure | Human head
|
The original Sanctuary from 1963, designed by Philip Pearlman, was a structure with a roof in the shape of a Magen David that faced east. The building was remodeled in the 1980s; the exterior and roof structures were retained but the interior was dramatically altered. The sanctuary's orientation was shifted so that the ark was facing southeast, and the ark was redone in copper. Artist Laszlo Buday designed the sanctuary ark doors, menorah, ner tamid, as well as the ark doors of the daily chapel. When the congregation moved in 1994 to the current site. The copper pieces were relocated to the new location. The original building was subsequently demolished after the sale of the building and campus to the Toras Emes Orthodox Day School.
The current campus and building, dedicated in February 1995, were designed by Jaime Schapiro, who was also the architect of the extensive 2018-2022 sanctuary renovation done at the site.
Email from Marshall Baltuch, Beth Torah Benny Rok Campus, to Samuel Gruber (April 7, 2022)