Obj. ID: 52478
Memorials  Memorial to Six Million in Emanu El Synagogue in Houston, TX, USA

To the main object: Emanu El Synagogue in Houston, TX, USA

Memorial Name

Memorial to Six Million

Who is Commemorated?            

The six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust

Description

This modest memorial consists of a metal sculpture set on a tall wooden pedestal, set up against a brick pier in the vestibule area of the synagogue, outside the main sanctuary.

Two-thirds of the way up the pedestal a horizontal ledge supports a narrow bronze plaque with a dedicatory inscription to “Six Million by Thankful Survivors”.

The top pedestal has angled sides and a flat top. On the angled side facing front is a bronze plaque with lines taken from Yossel ben Herschel’s Elegy in F Minor for the Six Million.

On the flat top is a bronze sculpture in two parts. On the left is a form of compressed triangles, that could be seen as a shard of glass, or perhaps parts of a Magen David that have been squeezed together. One of the triangles bears a Hebrew inscription. In the middle of the triangular shards is affixed a small silver or stainless-steel cylinder. This seems to be meant as a memorial lamp, with a small silver flame emerging from the top.  

To the right is a polished bronze menorah, not quite as tall as the assemblage of triangles. The design is simple, with two thin upright bars, slightly angled to the left, and separating as they rise. Three semi-circular bars of descending size are set behind these, to form six arms for the menorah.

Inscriptions

On the sculpture (Hebrew)

אני מאמין 

Translation: I believe

Elegy in F Minor for the Six Million Plaque (English)

O rest ye brethren, solemn hearted,
kin of Israel, now departed;
by His hand shall ye awaken..in peace..

Dedication Plaque

Hebrew

יד ושם

Translation: A memorial and a name

English

Memorial to Six Million
By thankful survivors

Commissioned by

Survivors of the Holocaust