Administered by City of Long Beach Maintenance Department 1 West Chester Street, City Hall Long Beach New York 11561
Located Kennedy Plaza Park Avenue between Center Street & Natural Boulevard Long Beach New York
Date:
1985-1987. Dedicated June 7, 1987
Notes:
Save Outdoor Sculpture, New York survey, 1994.
Image on file.
(On inverted pyramid, incised lettering:) (Panel three:) RAOUL WALLENBERG/OSKAR SCHINDLER/MAXIMILLIAN KOLBE (On upper base, incised lettering:) (Side one:) TO THE SACRED AND ETERNAL/MEMORY OF THE MILLION JEWISH/CHILDREN WHO PERISHED IN THE/HOLOCAUST (Side two:) ...THE BURNING BUSH/WAS NOT CONSUMED/EXODUS III-2 (Side three:) THEIR BROTHERS KEEPERS
(On five plaques on side three of lower base:) (Plaque one:) The erection of this monument, in large measure/was made possible through the generosity of/Honorary Chairman/Dr. NATAN CELNIK/in memory of his beloved wife/URSULA/Resistance Fighters (Plaque two:) This monument was proposed and erected by the/HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL COMMITTEE/of LONG ISLAND/Executive Committee: Stanley R. Robbin MD/Chairman and Founder/Artist of the 3 Triangular Panels/Vice Presidents: Robert E. Link/Matthew McCarthy/Henry D. Zukor/Treasurer: Hon. Pearl Weill/Celia L. Avnet/Simon Berger/Rev. Thomas Donohoe/Hon. Jerome B. Fleischman/Rev. Michael F. Guinan/Rabbi Abraham M. Mann/Executive Director: Joseph S. King
(Plaque three:) This monument has been erected with/the advice,/consent and support of the/officials of the City of Long Beach/1981-1987/City Council: Hon. Kevin Braddish, president/Hon. Pearl Weill, vice-president/Hon. Bruce Bergan/Hon. Stanley Smolken/Hon. Harvey Weisenberg/City Court Judge: Hon. Roy Tepper/City Manager: Edwin L. Eaton/Supervisors: Hon. Hannah Komanoff/Hon Bruce Nyman (Plaque four:) The concept, design and structure/of this monument/is an original creation of/architect/Monte Leeper (Plaque five:) The pictorial part of this monument consisting of/white colored etchings/and inscriptions engraved on black/granite, was an original design of/Stanley R. Robbin, MD unsigned
The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.
Summary:
An abstract sculpture consisting of an inverted pyramid made of highly polished black granite containing white etchings on each of its sides remembering the Jewish victims of the Holocaust and recognizing those who aided the Jews. The etching on panel one depicts Janusz Korczak leading a group of Jewish orphans from the Warsaw Ghetto to death in the gas chambers of the Treblinka Concentration Camp. A Nazi SS guard stands in the background. Korczak is bearded and cradles a young child in his proper left arm as other children surround him and hold on to his coat.
Panel two shows the biblical burning bush with barbed wire across the fire. Panel three contains the names of Raoul Wallenberg, Oskar Schindler and Maximillian Kolbe, three Christians who saved Jewish lives during the Holocaust. The inverted pyramid is mounted on a three-sided base containing etched inscriptions. It is set in a larger three-sided base filled with plantings. The sculpture and its base are surrounded by three triangular-shaped meditation benches.