The Holocaust Memorial Park
Since 1985, thousands have gathered each year at the Holocaust Memorial Park to share memories, prayer, and hope. Located at the water’s edge of Brooklyn’s Sheepshead Bay, the Park was created through the efforts of the Holocaust Memorial Committee with the support of community leaders and legislators.
Dedicated officially in June 1985 by Mayor Edward Koch, the Park has been the site of memorial programs honoring such renowned leaders, educators and heroic figures as Simon Weisenthal, Beate Klarsfeld, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Professor David Wyman, Yitzchak Arad, Jan Karski, Chiune Sugihara, Rabbi Avi Weiss, Professor Yaffa Eliach, and Tuvia Bielski and members of the Jewish Brigade – among many others.
In the years following the park’s naming and dedication, the HMC campaigned vigorously to erect a permanent memorial to the victims of the Shoah. With funding allocated by then Brooklyn Borough President Howard Golden, this dream became a reality when the permanent Holocaust Memorial was completed and officially dedicated by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in 1997. With historical documentation by noted Holocaust scholar, Professor Monty Penkower, and designed by New York City’s Parks Department in consultation with the HMC, thousands of names have already been inscribed on the granite markers – and the Park has become a focal point for students, teachers, visitors, and surviving families, including many from the former Soviet Union.
As New York’s first public memorial to the Holocaust, this unique Memorial will stand for all time as a somber reminder of the millions of lives lost and the rich culture destroyed. An eternal light shines in the lasting memory of those who perished and as a beacon of hope for the future. A field of granite markers, inscribed with names, places, and historical events related to the Holocaust will educate and inspire future generations to remember – zachor!
In order to expand the initial educational experience at the Park, future plans include the establishment of a Holocaust Education Center in close proximity to the Park. The Center would serve as a powerful force for educational opportunities by providing resources to educate and inform students and teachers beyond their introduction at the Park, and to provide opportunities for the active participation of youth. As a central address for educational programming, research, exhibits, and conferences – the Center would address the urgent need to prevent hatred and anti-Semitism and to educate people about the lessons of the Holocaust and the tragic impact of bigotry and discrimination.
Dedication
"You who read these words, remember...
Remember that, in the years of darkness from 1933 to 1945, in German-occupied Europe, six million men, women, and children were murdered with unprecedented brutality only because they were Jews. Remember that thousands upon thousands of Jewish communities were uprooted, schools and synagogues destroyed, and the hopes of entire generations reduced to ashes.
Remember that all this happened at a time when evil was triumphant because the world remained silent.”
Elie Wiesel, Survivor
Recipient of the Nobel Prize for Peace, 1986
“Remember”, Inscription in the memorial by Elie Wiesel
This Memorial is Dedicated...
- To the eternal memory of the six million Jewish men, women, and children methodically murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Holocaust.
- To the millions of other innocent human beings who were also murdered under German rule during World War II
- To the heroes of the ghettos and the Jewish armed resistance
- To the partisans and Allied soldiers who fought for freedom
- To those who survived the horrors and degradation of the Nazis
- To the few righteous among the nations who risked their lives to shield those targeted for death
- And to all those who wage battle for freedom and human dignity.
Memorial Inscription
Thousands of names have already been inscribed on these many granite markers that stand in tribute to all those individuals, families and communities that were so harshly affected during the Holocaust, those who dedicated themselves to aid those who suffered during this time. Historical events are also represented and their significance to Jewish history is explained.
A limited number of the granite stone markers at the Memorial have been reserved for the inscription of names of individual victims of the Holocaust, assuring that their martyred names and their memory will be preserved.
In Memoriam
The Holocaust Memorial Committee deeply mourns the passing of our co-founder and long-time Director, Pauline Bilus, of blessed memory.
She, alongside our founder and her husband, Ira Bilus, of blessed memory, were recognized leaders in Holocaust memorialization and education whose vision and determination created
The Holocaust Memorial Park,
Brooklyn, New York
