Obj. ID: 50678  Menora Memorial in Šķēde, Liepāja, Latvia, 2005

On the northern entrance stele, on the right, in Latvian: "Autors – Raimonds Gabaliņš"

The Nazi German troops occupied Liepāja on 29 June 1941. After the initial murder of Jews in July, the largest action of shooting took place in December 1941 in the Šķēde Dunes, on the sea beach, near the stables of the Latvian army.

The first shooting of Jews in the Šķēde Dunes took place in September 1941, when about 200 people were murdered. The largest action in Šķēde occurred on December 14-16, 1941, when in the course of three days, the majority of Liepāja Jews, more than 2,700, were murdered. The mass killing in Šķēde was photographed, and those photographs were widely published after the Holocaust. In February 1942, about 150 more Jews were shot in the Šķēde Dunes.

According to the website of the Liepaja Jewish Heritage Foundation:

"The idea of commemorating for all time those Jews who died in the sand dunes of Šķēde was the initiative of the Open Public Foundation “Liepājas ebreju mantojums”, also known as the Liepaja Jewish Heritage Foundation, when a competition was launched. Participants were given the challenge of designing a Memorial in the sand dunes of Šķēde which would take the form of an artistic structure of solid architectural and environmental design in conformity with the canons of Judaism regarding memorial sites.

It would also serve as a place where visitors could reflect on the tragedy that befell the innocent women, children and elderly who were slaughtered only because they were Jews.

The winner of the competition was Raimonds Gabaliņš, an artist and sculptor from Liepaja with his project “Kaddish”. The Memorial is a horizontal Menorah created from cut fieldstone from Kurzeme. The flames are symbolized by large granite steles (slabs) with carved Hebrew inscriptions. The total area of the Memorial covers 4120 square metres. A single granite stele alone weighs 7 tons.

The poetic texts have been taken from the “Lamentations of Jeremiah” and include authentic translations into English, Latvian and Russian.

The project was endorsed by the Latvian President, the Cabinet of Ministers, the Liepaja City Council, the Liepaja Jewish survivors and their descendants from around the world, by Latvian and foreign public activists and public officials, the Jewish Community Council of Latvia and the Liepaja Jewish Community

Historians, building contractors, office staff, museum employees, environment experts and quantity surveyors were all involved in bringing this project to fruition.

The Memorial construction project was headed by one of the founders of the Foundation – Sergey Zaharjin in co-operation with Yakov Berlin, architect Raimonds Gabaliņš, Ilana Ivanova, Rosalia Sukhar and Eduard Kaplan.

The dedication of the Memorial took place on June 3, 2005 in the presence of the Israeli Ambassador to Latvia, numerous representatives of the Diplomatic Corps, public figures, Holocaust survivors of Liepaja Jews and their descendants and residents of Liepaja."

(http://liepajajewishheritage.lv/en/the-alley-of-the-righteous-among-the-nations/)

Every December, a commemoration is held at the memorial, dedicated to the anniversary of the eradication of the Liepāja Jewish community.