Obj. ID: 43156  Memorial to the Six Million in Johannesburg, South Africa, 1959, 1995

Memorial Name

Memorial to the Six Million

Who is Commemorated?

Jewish victims of the Holocaust

Description

The monument is set upon a large stone platform and consists of six large fists holding shofarot that face inward. In the center is a 15 foot high (approx. 5 meters) eternal light consisting of Hebrew letters spelling Lo Tirtzach (thou Shalt Not Kill).  The shofarot are so big, that the foundry had to cast each of them in four parts. Each fist is 1.5 meters high and the total height of the shofarot is 6 meters.

The sculptor, Herman Wald, described the monument in a letter to London’s Studio Magazine:

"This monument depicts six mighty bronze fists, each five feet high, bursting out of the ground as a protest of the dead, each fist representing one million Jews who perished under Hitler, and each gripping a ram's horn, the Jewish ritual trumpet standing twenty feet high. In pairs they create three arches; the arches of trials and tribulations that the Jewish people have all gone through during all the generations of persecution. In the centre there is a flame shaped Eternal Light, spiraling fifteen feet up...” (H.Wald) https://www.hermanwald.com/pages/Public_Work.aspx

Inscriptions

The large stone platform that holds shofarot is inscribed in Hebrew, Afrikaans and English:

The plaque to the left from the stairs is inscribed in Afrikaans and English.

Ter
ewicourende herinnerinc aan
die ses miljoen jode.
Slacoffers van die mens se
onmenslikheid teenoor die mens
wat in 1939 - 1945 in die
oodekampe van Europa vercaan het.
"Vergeet dit nie"
6,000,000

Translation: ???

 In
everlasting memory of
the six million Jews
victims of man’s inhumanity to man
who perished
in the death camps of Europe
1939–1945.
‘thou shalt not forget’
6,000,000.”

The plaque to the right from the stairs is inscribed in Yiddish:

Gedenkt di zeks milyon yidn vos
zaynen umgekumen al kidesh ha-shem
un al kidesh ha-am

Translation: "Remember the six million Jews who perished as martyrs for the Holy Name and the holy people.”). Then follows a sixfold “GEDENK!” (“Remember!”) with the names of five concentration camps and the number of six million.

The platform has an additional dedicatory plaque in Yiddish and English:

דעם פונדאמנט
האבן מנדב געווען
ה' און פרוי
מ. יעיל
דעם צטן אפריל
1959

Translation: This foundation was donated by Mr. and Mrs. M. Yale.  ??? April 1959

This foundation was donated by
Mr. and Mrs. M. Yale.
The 17th of April 1959. 

 Lying flat at the front of the platform is a plaque installed when the memorial was renovated and rededicated: in 1995:

 This memorial was
rededicated by the
South African Jewish
community in memory
of the martyrs and
commemorates the
liberation of the
concentration camps
fifty years ago
27 April 1995 – 27 Nissan 5755

Commissioned by

Jewish Communal Monument Committee and the South African Jewish Board of Deputies