Philadelphia's Holocaust Memorial, Enhanced For A New Generation
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia's Holocaust Memorial, at 16th and the Parkway, is about to get a major renovation. Plans for a new Memorial Plaza were unveiled Wednesday.
It was a huge victory in 1964 when Philadelphia became the first city in the country to have a Holocaust Memorial, a Nathan Rapoport sculpture evoking the terror and tumult of Nazi-engineered death. But, as Rabbi Michael Berenbaum noted, at the unveiling of new plans for the site, that sculpture was designed for a generation that had lived through the Holocaust and knew its horrors.
A memorial that speaks to one generation must be renewed for a second generation.
Berenbaum says the makeover--with educational panels and new plantings--will include Philadelphia history because the freedoms born here are the antithesis of the dictatorship that led to the Holocaust.
As people walk this great Parkway in this very important city that they pause for a moment and stop taking it for granted and get a sense of tremendous gratitude and appreciation for what Philadelphia has contributed to the nation.
The Philadelphia Holocaust Remembrance Foundation predicts the Plaza will become a "destination landmark."