Holocaust Memorial Unveiled In Squirrel Hill
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - It has been nearly two decades in the making. Now, a new, powerful Holocaust memorial is complete.
Chances are when you drink a can of pop, you don't save the tab. However, some people saved the tabs for years and now, the simple, small pieces of metal make up a moving memorial in Squirrel Hill.
It took 17 years to collect six million tabs.
"Every one of those represents someone's life. I mean, we don't know who they are, but someone's life was cut short," Bill Walter said.
The tabs, sorted into 960 glass blocks, make up the sculpture. It's a memorial dedicated to six million people killed during the Holocaust.
The project was started by Walter, who used to teach social studies at the Community Day School.
"When you think about the life you have had, that I have had, I've been lucky enough to go to high school, to college, get married, have children and grandchildren and then you start to think about that someone else who never that opportunity," Walter said.
The memorial with so much meaning now stands on the grounds of the Community Day School.
It will serve as a place for reflection and as a teaching tool.
"People are welcome to come anytime and respectfully walk through it, experience it. Everyone who has come through so far has had a very personal experience with it," Avi Baran Munro said.
Former students, community leaders, and so many others gathered for the dedication ceremony over the weekend.
"We expect that memorializing the victims also carries with it the responsibility to act in a way that prevents crimes against humanity from happening in the future," Munro said.
RELATED LINKS
