The Milwaukee Jewish Federation commissioned the Holocaust Memorial in 1983 in memory of the six million Jews who were killed in the Holocaust. It is located immediately outside the Jewish Museum Milwaukee. Milwaukee-born artist Claire Lieberman designed it to be more than a beautiful sculpture. It is a place where people can contemplate, and it is a place of learning.
Visitors enter the enclosed Memorial through steel sheets that evoke the pages of a book. Each one is marked with the name of a concentration camp. Over the years, the metal has aged, making the sheets look tear-stained. As one goes into the memorial, railroad ties recall the trains which transported Jews to concentration camps. A granite obelisk is at the center of the sculpture, to symbolize the chimneys used in crematoria. It is inscribed with the word Zakhor, “remember.”
As one sits in the Memorial, although it is open, it is protected from the street and forms a space of its own. It is used by community members, including immigrants from the former Soviet Union who lost family members in the Holocaust and have no cemetery or place to visit. They bring flowers and place them in front of the pillar, and they sit on the benches and remember.
1360 N. Prospect Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53202
Jewish Museum Milwaukee is dedicated to cultivating awareness of the past and preserving our Jewish heritage for future generations. Membership helps us with that mission.