The first monument in the United States commemorating the 6, 000, 000 European Jewish men, women and children murdered by the Nazis, an 18-foot bronze sculpture, was unveiled and presented today to the city of Philadelphia.
The monument was presented by the Association of Jewish New Americans in a ceremony sponsored by the association and the Federation of Jewish Agencies on behalf of the Philadelphia Allied Jewish Appeal. Mayor James H. J. Tate accepted the monument on behalf of the city. Former Judge Nochem S. Winnet, Federation president, conducted the ceremonies.
The monument, which stands on a two-foot base of black granite, was created by the noted sculptor Nathan Rapoport, whose works include the monument on the site of the former Warsaw Ghetto which memorializes the revolt of the doomed Jews against the Nazis during the war. The five-ton monument portrays in symbolic terms a dying mother, living amid flames; a writhing child upholding the Torah; a patriarchal figure with arms raised in benediction, and several arms wielding daggers, The entire cast is surmounted by a blazing Menorah.
Mayor Tate declared he was certain that the monument would “take its place among the many valuable pieces of sculpture that beautify our city today,” and that he hoped future generations would regard it as a monument to religious freedom and a constant inspiration to all people. Recalling that 200 years ago, George Washington announced in Philadelphia that “we will give no sanction to bigotry,” the Mayor said the same words today “for many of us, have special significance. “
“It is 20 years since the Hitler tragedy ended but it has not been forgotten, ” he told the assemblage. “As long as free men live, they will remember the destruction of six million innocent people.”
Leonard Goldfine, Allied Jewish Appeal general chairman pointed out that the monument was also intended to be a symbol to remind mankind there must never again be a time “when one human being will inflict such suffering and inhumanity on another.” Dalck Feith, chairman of the Monument Committee, officially presented the monument on behalf of the Association of Jewish New Americans. Abram Shnaper, president of the Association of Jewish New Americans, said “the 6, 000, 000 Jews did not go to their deaths like lambs to the slaughter.” Each in his own way, he asserted, resisted his executioner.
At the unveiling, a group of Jewish New Americans sang in Yiddish the Partisans Hymn, the song of the ghetto resistance fighters. Six candles were lighted, one for each million of the martyrs.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
