Oregon Holocaust Memorial

Oregon Holocaust Memorial
Oregon Holocaust Memorial
Oregon
	Everyday items like this suitcase symbolize life interrupted
	For victims of the Holocaust
Unveiled	August 29, 2004
Location	near Portland, Oregon

The Oregon Holocaust Memorial is an outdoor memorial dedicated to victims of the Holocaust.^[1] Located in Portland, Oregon's Washington Park, the memorial was dedicated on August 29, 2004. Owned by the American Jewish Committee and constructed by Atlas Landscape Architecture and the Walsh Construction Company, the idea for a memorial was proposed in 1994 by Alice Kern and a local group of Holocaust survivors that met through the Oregon Holocaust Resource Center.^[2]^[3]^[4] According to Fodor's, the memorial is open daily from dawn to dusk and admission is free of charge.^[5]

Design

The memorial features a stone bench with wrought iron gating around a cobblestone circle. Scattered bronzes of common objects such as shoes, glasses, and a suitcase represent items left behind by those persecuted during the Holocaust. A cobblestone walkway, with granite bars simulating railroad tracks, leads to a wall containing a history of the Holocaust as well as quotes from survivors.^[1]^[6] The memorial also contains a "soil vault panel", which covers soil and ash from six extermination camps of the Holocaust (Auschwitz-Birkenau, Bełżec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Treblinka, and Sobibor) brought back by local residents.^[3]^[7] Engraved on the back of the wall are the names of people who died in the camps, as well as the names of their surviving relatives in Oregon and Southwest Washington.^[1]^[8] Author and designer John Laursen created the lettering for the memorial.^[9] Other design team members included artists Tad Savinar and Paul Sutinen, landscape architects John Warner, Marianne Zarkin and Marlene Salon, and historian Marshall Lee.^[10]

Construction

The total estimated cost of construction was $800,000, funded by grants and private donations.^[11] The primary contractor for the project was Oregon's Walsh Construction Company. Minnesota-based Coldspring Granite Company provided granite for the memorial.^[11]

History

The memorial was vandalized in 2021.^[12]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Oregon Holocaust Memorial". Portland Parks & Recreation. Archived from the original on June 12, 2010. Retrieved February 27, 2010.
^ "Oregon Holocaust Memorial". Walsh Construction Company. Archived from the original on December 2, 2010. Retrieved January 10, 2011.
^ ^a ^b Pitz, Ray (November 4, 2010). "Married Holocaust survivors share their horrific and miraculous stories". Beaverton Valley Times. Pamplin Media Group. Archived from the original on September 18, 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2013.
^ Dungca, Nicole (August 30, 2009). "Survivors honor fifth anniversary of Portland's Holocaust memorial". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on September 14, 2010. Retrieved January 10, 2011.
^ Wechter, Eric B. (2008). Fodor's Pacific Northwest. Random House. p. 33. ISBN 978-1-4000-0733-2. Archived from the original on September 18, 2023. Retrieved January 10, 2011.
^ Cox, Randy (August 30, 2009). "Holocaust Survivors At Memorial (3)". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Retrieved January 10, 2011.
^ Cox, Randy (August 30, 2009). "Holocaust Survivors At Memorial (1)". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Retrieved January 10, 2011.
^ Cox, Randy (August 30, 2009). "Holocaust Survivors At Memorial (4)". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Retrieved January 10, 2011.
^ Baker, Jeff (November 1, 2010). "Miriam Greenstein turns Holocaust nightmares into art". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on November 5, 2010. Retrieved January 10, 2011.
^ Ryan, Alison (August 29, 2005). "Year after unveiling, Oregon Holocaust Memorial designers revisit their work". AllBusiness.com. Archived from the original on October 7, 2009. Retrieved January 10, 2011.
^ ^a ^b Haist, Paul. "Work begins on long delayed Oregon Holocaust Memorial". Jewish Review. Archived from the original on July 23, 2011. Retrieved January 10, 2011.
^ "Nazi swastikas scrawled across Oregon Holocaust Memorial in SW Portland". The Oregonian. 2021-05-03. Archived from the original on 2021-05-14. Retrieved 2021-05-14.