Obj. ID: 46847
  Memorials  Holocaust Monument in the Walnut Street Synagogue, Chelsea, MA

To the main object: The Walnut Street Synagogue, Chelsea, MA, USA

Name of Monument 

Thou Shall Not Commit Murder

Who/What is Commemorated?

Victims of the Holocaust

Description

The powerful wood sculpture is a memorial and an admonition. A full figure of a robed, bearded man, with a forceful expression – presumably Moses – is set on a rectangular wooden base. The figure holds a tablet with both hands and thrusts it forward. On this is carved in Hebrew the Sixth Commandment (Exodus 20:13), “Thou shall not murder,” followed by the English admonition that the murderer will “know the wrath of God,” followed by the abbreviation for God’s name. Behind the figure are two columns of wooden slats, placed horizontally so that a broad side faces out, and on each slat in incised the name of a death camp or killing site. In total, there are 34 places – names -for more than one usually finds on a memorial. The place names cover best-known concentration camps in Germany and death camps in Poland, but also include sites from much of Eastern Europe from Serbia to Estonia, including killing sites in Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, and Estonia.

Wood chips are glued to the base around the figure’s feet, and amidst these are attached three small carved skulls, and several carved bones, so t hat the figure appears to address the viewer from the midst of a graveyard, or worse, the site of unburied dead. There is a reference to Christian art here – whether intentional or not. Often a skull – meant to represent Adam – is included at the base of the cross in scenes of Christ’s crucifixion.

Inscriptions

In Hebrew:

לא תרצח

Translate: You shall not murder

In English:

YOU SHALL

NOT COMMIT

MURDER

OR YOU WILL

KNOW THE

WRATH OF

GOD

In Hebrew:

יי

Translate: Adonai

List of camps and killing sites:

BAR                                                   LVOV

BABI YAR                                         THERESIENSTADT

NATZWEILER                                  ZEMUN

SOBIBOR                                          JASENOVAC

BALANOVKA                                   VAIVARA

MAJDANEK                                     BUCHENWALD

RAVENSBRUCK                              DACHAU

TREBLINKA                                     GROSS ROSEN

AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU              FLOSSENBURG

STUTTHOF                                      MINSK

PLASZOW                                        MAUTHAUSEN

ODESSA                                            BELZEC

KLOOGA                                           SACHSENHAUSEN

BAGDONOVKA                                PONARY

NEUENGAMME                               BERGEN-BELSEN

SAJMISTE                                         EDINETI

CHELNO                                           KAISERVSALD

Commissioned by

Unknown