Yale Hosts Event Commemorating New Haven’s Holocaust Memorial

New Haven, Conn. — The Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale University will mark the 30th anniversary of New Haven’s Holocaust Memorial with a program on April 26 at 4 p.m. at 80 Wall St.

Organized by the New Haven Oral History Project in conjunction with the Greater New Haven Holocaust Memory, the event is free, and the public is welcome.

New Haven is home to the very first Holocaust Memorial constructed on public land in North America. Planned in 1976, it was built in 1977 in Edgewood Park on the corner of West Park Street and Whalley Avenue, through the efforts of Holocaust survivors, children of survivors and local political leaders and educators.

At the event, Yale senior Michael Brown will present his research on the building of the monument, featuring excerpts of interviews with Holocaust survivors Shifre Zamkov and Helene Rosenberg and the monument’s architect, Gus Franzoni. David Ottenstein’s photographic portraits of those who spearheaded the memorial will be exhibited from April 26 through May 22, along with archival documents related to its planning and construction.

Brown worked with Yale alumnus Andy Horowitz, director of the New Haven Oral History Project, to conduct the interviews, which will be archived in the New Haven Oral History Collection of the Yale University Library and shared with the New Haven Free Public Library.

The Greater New Haven Holocaust Memory (GNHHM) was incorporated last fall as a non-profit organization dedicated to maintaining the monument, which has begun to show its age. Members include survivors and their children, former Mayors Frank Logue and John Daniels, alderpersons representing the neighboring wards, educators, architects, artists, construction and restoration professionals and landscape experts.

Doris Zelinsky, president of GNHHM, explains that their mission is “to secure the memorial’s structure and history and to unlock its rich educational potential for visitors and residents of greater New Haven.”

Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, will be observed on April 25 in New Haven and around the world.

Contact Information

Gila Reinstein

Yale University

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