Obj. ID: 42761
Modern Jewish Art  Holocaust Monument in Skokie, IL, USA, 1987

Who is Commemorated?

Ghetto fighters, the underground resistance, the U.S. Armed Forces who helped defeat the scourge of Nazism and the six million Jews and all other victims who perished at the hands of the Nazis.

Description

A bronze figurative sculpture depicts four individuals during the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto uprising. The group consists of a Jewish resistance fighter (identified by his bandolier), a mother holding a dead child, and a small boy with kippah who clings to an older bearded man dressed in more traditional garb. The feet of the figures rest on ruins of the Ghetto including scattered bricks and other building rubble, and a damaged Torah scroll. At the bottom of the statues amidst this depiction of ruin is inscribed: "Thou shallt not kill." The bronze group is set on a black marble base with inscriptions in English, Hebrew, and Yiddish on all sides. A separate free-standing bronze plaque with information about the history of the memorial is set next to the monument. 

Inscriptions

The accompanying plaque reads:

The monument has been erected
as a lasting memorial to all
victims of Nazism and will remain
in perpetuity as a reminder what
hate can do to mankind, if decent
people are not vigilant to forestall
such a calamity in the future

The inscription is followed by the names of the board members. trustees, artist, sculptor, and contractor.

Inscriptions on the stone base include:

Inscriptions in Hebrew and English on the north side:

זכור
In memory of
The Six Million Jews
And all other victims
Who perished
At the hands of the Nazis
1933-1945
Dedicated by the
Holocaust Monument Committee
שארית הפליטה
תשמ''ז / 1987

Translation: the survivor community/ 1987

Inscriptions in Yiddish and English on the west side read:

געדענק אונדזערע קדושים

Translation: Remember our martyrs

Remember the Martyrs
Annihilated
Auschwitz                   Dachau
Bergen Belsen             Majdanek
Buchenwald                Treblinka
And all Other Concentration Camps

Inscription in English on the east side reads:

In honor of
the Ghetto fighters
the underground resistance
and the U.S. Armed Forces
who helped defeat
the scourge of Nazism.

Inscriptions in Hebrew and English on the south side cite the Biblical verse Lamentations 1:12 and read:

הביטו וראו
אם יש מכאוב כמכאבי
אשר עולל לי
איכה א יז

Behold and see
If there be any pain
Like unto my pain
Which is done unto me
Lamentations 1:12

Commissioned by

Sheerit Hapleitah of Metropolitan Chicago (on behalf of the survivor community)