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Obj. ID: 53634
Memorials
  Rhode Island Holocaust Memorial in Providence, RI, USA, 2015

© Samuel D. Gruber, Photographer: Gruber, Samuel D., 2024

Name of Monument
Rhode Island Holocaust Memorial

What/Who is commemorated
6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and the survivors who settled in Rhode Island.

Description
The Holocaust Memorial is a sculpture garden, or roughly triangular shape, set within the large Memorial Park along Providence's River Walk. The monument is low and unobtrusive in comparison with the tall World War I Memorial (designed by Paul Cret) that stands nearby. The memorial features a winding stone path engraved with railroad tracks evoking the trains that took European Jews and others to concentration and death camps. Along the path stand six stone columns, representing the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust. At the end of the path, in the center of the Memorial, sits a smooth elliptical stone, called the Life Stone.

The 6 main components to the memorial are: the outer curb, the entrance gate, the inner curb, the path, the columns, and the Life Stone.

The outer curb, made of light gray granite, lines the memorial. On it are the names of 15 concentration camps, chosen because they are the most recognizable.

Flanking the memorial is the entranceway consisting of two semi-rectangular granite pillars, the same dark grey as the columns. The pillars differ in size. Both pillars contain detailed inscriptions that face either side of the visitor, beckoning for them to engage.

Past the entrance gate, is a path of spotted gray stone overlaid with a design of washed-out, red train tracks. As the path continues, the tracks narrow. The path ends at a large smooth white elliptical stone placed on the ground that contrasts with the dark gray granite columns surrounding it. The stone represents in large form a stone of remembrance of the type placed on a Jewish grave,

Lining the path is the inner curb, lined with names of Holocaust survivors who immigrated to Rhode Island following their liberation. As one reaches the Life Stone, the six memorial columns, shaped as differently-sized truncated elliptical cones.

Inscriptions
On side of entrance pillar facing out:

RHODE ISLAND
HOLOCAUST
MEMORIAL

On side of entrance pillar facing path: 

Singled out for
extermination
as part of a “final
solution” by the
Nazi regime,
more than six
million jews were
killed during the
Holocaust.

 May all of them –
victims, witnesses,
and survivors
alike – testify to the
memory of brutality
in the extreme, of
the will to survive it,
and the determina-
tion among all of us to
avoid committing
such atrocities in the
future.

 January 30, 1933
through May 8, 1945

On side of entrance pillar facing path:

"We do not want
our past to be our
children’s future."

-- Roman Kent
Holocaust survivor

On Outer curb – name of camps:

 Majdanek
Flossenburg
Ravensbruch
Stutthof
Mauthausen
Chelno
Belzec
Buchenwald
Bergen-Belsen
Treblinka
Sobibor
Dachau
Sachsenhausen
Theresienstadt
Auschwitz-Birkenau

Outer curb:

Names of sponsors and donors

Inner curb of path:

Names of survivors in Rhodes Island

Commissioned by
The Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island
The Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center
The Rhode Island Holocaust Memorial Committee

Summary and Remarks
Remarks

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Name/Title
Rhode Island Holocaust Memorial in Providence, RI | Unknown
Object Detail
Monument Setting
Public park
{"9":"Any memorial erected or installed in a present-day public park, including Jewish cemeteries or other sites now operated as public space."}
Date
2015
Active dates
Reconstruction dates
Artist/ Maker
Bonner, Jonathan (sculptor)
{"5347":"born 1947"}
Historical Origin
Unknown
Community type
Unknown |
Congregation
Unknown
Location
Site
Unknown
School/Style
Unknown|
Period
Unknown
Period Detail
Collection
Unknown |
Documentation / Research project
Unknown
Iconographical Subject
Material / Technique
granite
Material Stucture
Material Decoration
Material Bonding
Material Inscription
Material Additions
Material Cloth
Material Lining
Tesserae Arrangement
Density
Colors
Construction material
Measurements
Total length of memorial area approx. 27.6 m.
Path is 2.2 m wide
Stone of Life is 1.5 m across
Columns range from 90 cm to m in height
Central circle approx. 3.4 m in diameter
Height
Length
Width
Depth
Circumference
Thickness
Diameter
Weight
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Panel Measurements
Condition
Extant
Documented by CJA
Surveyed by CJA
Present Usage
Present Usage Details
Condition of Building Fabric
Architectural Significance type
Historical significance: Event/Period
Historical significance: Collective Memory/Folklore
Historical significance: Person
Architectural Significance: Style
Architectural Significance: Artistic Decoration
Urban significance
Significance Rating
0
Ornamentation
Custom
Contents
Codicology
Scribes
Script
Number of Lines
Ruling
Pricking
Quires
Catchwords
Hebrew Numeration
Blank Leaves
Direction/Location
Façade (main)
Endivances
Location of Torah Ark
Location of Apse
Location of Niche
Location of Reader's Desk
Location of Platform
Temp: Architecture Axis
Arrangement of Seats
Location of Women's Section
Direction Prayer
Direction Toward Jerusalem
Coin
Coin Series
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Signature
Colophon
Scribal Notes
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Hallmark
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Group
Group
Group
Group
Trade Mark
Binding
Decoration Program
Suggested Reconsdivuction
History/Provenance

The RI Holocaust Memorial was started by a group of Holocaust survivors who moved to Rhode Island after the war.

Main Surveys & Excavations
Sources

"Engage with Hoverlay," The Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center, https://bornsteinholocaustcenter.org/rhode-island-holocaust-memorial/ (accessed April 18, 2024)

‘Rhode Island Holocaust Memorial,” Commemorative Works of Providence, https://commemorativeworksprovidenceri.digitalscholarship.brown.edu/items/show/14 (accessed April 18, 2024)
Type
Documenter
Samuel D. Gruber | 2024
Author of description
Samuel D. Gruber | 2024
Architectural Drawings
|
Computer Reconstruction
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Section Head
|
Language Editor
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Donor
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Negative/Photo. No.
The following information on this monument will be completed: