The entrance to the memorial is cobblestone with six light standards that are replicas of those at Auschwitz.
There are four double side black marble 'panels' in between the light standards.
One panel begins with "Holocaust Memorial of the Desert", "Dedicated on April 30th, 1995" and includes the names of Founders, Benefactors and Sponsors, three panels are "Fellows", one has "The Promise" by Shirley Greif, and four are "Memorial Wall" including one "in memory of Joe Brandt, founder of the Desert Holocaust Memorial.
Next is a bronze plaque on a black marble base. The plaque begins "Brief history of the systematic deprivation by law of the
civil rights, jobs, property and life of "non-Aryans"
by the Nazi Party."
The front of the marble reads:
"He who saves one life
saves the world"
The names of more than 12,000
"Righteous Gentiles"
Are embodied within this pedestal.
"May their deeds
Never be forgotten"
The back of the marble (to be seen when leaving) reads:
I have told you this story
Not to weaken you
but to strengthen you
now it is up to you
Never Again
The "Center of the Memorial" stand on a tiered Star of David which has a European map marking 19 death and slave camps incribed on it.
"Center of the Memorial"
At the heart of the memorial there are five bronze figures representing the people and different aspects of The Holocaust mounted on a double tiered Star of David.
"Boy from the Ghetto"
In a state of despair after being separated from his parents and forced to the transportation and taken to Auschwitz.
"Mother with Children"
Begging for her children's lives as an SS soldier's finger squeezes the trigger of his rifle because she would not let go of the children.
"A Rabbi"
Praying over dead bodies as SS soldier's ridicule him. He did not survive.
"The Dying Man"
Alone, silent, dying, his death represents the reality of bigotry, ignorance and hatred that has taken him to its inevitable end.
He represents the 11,000,000 people who died in The Holocaust, Jews, Christians, Gypsies, mentally ill, physically handicapped, homosexual and many others, that were killed in the name of Nazism and the sickness it stood for.
"The Defiant Man"
The accusing man! He stands tall, he survived the monstrosity of many concentration camps. He wears the number "A-17874" tattooed on his left arm in Auschwitz death camp. He is to teach, testify and to remind the world
"Never Again"
The central group is surrounded by border posts that are replicas of the electrified fences used in the concentration camps. Between these posts are eleven reliefs depicting the pictorial history of the Holocaust. The relief panels are:
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
"Let us not go to slaughter like sheep!" It is true that we are weak and we have nobody to help us. But our only dignified answer to the enemy must be resistance. After the fall of the ghetto the surviving Jews were executed or taken to Auschwitz.
Mass Execution
The relief shows an execution that took place in such locations as Babiyar, Rudki, and other places. There were open air shootings where thousands were shot down into long trenches some were buried alive.
The Transportation
Jewish communities unaware of their fate were taken from the ghettos by the Nazis and transported in boxcars without sanitation and little food, water or ventilation. The relief shows a train unloading at Auschwitz.
The Selection
The relief shows a line of newly arrived transport of men, women and children as Dr. Mengele (The Angel of Death) selects who shall live and who shall die.
The Crematorium
After finding disposal of thousands of bodies through open fires inefficient, the latest technology was incorporated by the SS as they installed crematoriums in many existing concentration camps.
Gas Chamber
The mass killings of Jews with Zyklon B Gas began in the spring of 1942 at gas chambers in many camps disguised as shower rooms. The gas chambers lured hundreds of thousands to their deaths.
Sleeping Quarters
In some camps the wooden barracks that were built to hold forty-eight horses housed more than eight hundred humans. The relief comes from photos from Sachsenhausen and Buchenwald.
Children of the Holocaust
1,600,000 children perished in the holocaust. Some children especially twins were used for medical experimentation.
Working Conditions
Those surviving selections were kept in the camps to starve or perish in the Nazi plan of "extermination through work". The relief comes from a photo taken by the SS at Auschwitz in 1942.
Death Marches
During the winter of 1944-45 there were marches from camp to camp as Allied Armies approached. Some death marches covered hundreds of miles with little or no food or water. Those who paused, fell behind or stepped out of the line were shot.
Liberation
"The things I saw beggar description"
"I made the visit deliberately, in order to be in a position to give firsthand evidence of these things, the visual evidence and the verbal testimony of starvation, cruelty and bestiality were so overpowering as to leave me a bit sick"
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower
Supreme Commander, Allied Forces in Europe.
This is also a Smithsonian Art Inventory Sculpture (
visit link)
When I visited this park, I didn't know this elaborate memorial was here. It was a very interesting and moving experience but for me, it's not really possibles to say that it was enjoyable because of the almost unbelievable atrocities.