Obj. ID: 51096
Modern Jewish Art  Holocaust memorial in the Jewish Community Campus in Cape Town, South Africa, 2017

To the main object: Jewish Community Campus and Jewish Museum in Cape Town, South Africa

Memorial Name

Requiem

Who is Commemorated?

Jewish victims of the Holocaust.

Description:

The memorial stands at the entrance to the Cape Town Holocaust and Genocide Centre which is situated in the Jewish Community Campus with two synagogues and the Jewish museum.

The memorial occupies a rectangle covered by small stones and bordered by a frame of large black stones. Inside the rectangle, there are 9 metal pillars: five high pillars (one with a hole in its upper part), two smaller pillars with holes and two low pillars. In front and between them are situated iron rods with upper parts featuring human faces. There are five tall rods, four smaller ones and four very small rods.

A metal plaque with a quote from Rutha Rosen explains the meaning of the composition.

Two metal plaques with donor’s and artist’s inscriptions are places on the stone border.

Inscription

On a metal plaque:

Requiem

This haunting sculpture takes us back to the inhumanity of our not
too distant past, and serves, in its elegant way, to remind us of that
which cannot be forgotten. The figures in the foreground, the men,
women and children, await their fate that the restless spirits, who
lurk between the walls of the concentration camps and the gas
chambers, know only too well. And we as observers become restless
too – we know the fate of those who are waiting. Yet the looming
towers that stand bold and strong, draw us back into the present
as monuments to our resolute commitment – Never Again!

Rutha Rosen

Commissioned by

Kaminer Family Trust (Benjamin and Gwen Kaminer)