The Horwitz Wasserman Holocaust Memorial Plaza, Philadelphia, is America’s first Holocaust memorial site, which was ruined by the last October’s Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, but has been the part of the rich diversity of the state and the nation.
The memorial plaza was made in1964 when some Holocaust survivors sanctioned an artist, who himself was a Holocaust survivor, to build them a statue in the memory of the Jews and Jewish community.
The memorial has been preserved and maintained ever since. But with this anti-semitic (hostility and discrimination against Jews) issues have been constantly on the rise within the country as well as globally. If we talk about the US itself, these incidents have risen at an alarming rate. Between the years 2015 and 2018, these cases have doubled up, more so in Trump’s administration. As far as the 2018 data goes, almost 2000 cases came up, while many others went unreported.
Holocaust education needed for the younger generation
The community needs to see this as a pressing issue against a particular community, and when the government and the president openly supports racism, the harm is done to every minority in the country.
Holocaust wasn’t limited to Jews though, there were hundreds of other communities which also suffered the horrific genocide.
The memorial plaza at Philadelphia is now planning to be used properly as a museum, park and educational site. Eszter Kutas, who is the executive director of the Philadelphia Holocaust Remembrance Foundation (PHRF) says,
The idea is to make a public park which is a regular city park as well as brings in a lot of educational features.
PHRF has been working with Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Philadelphia to start their campaign, educating the teachers, increasing the security of the plaza. PHRF is raising money for this. The target is $9 million and so far they have been successfully collected $3 million in donations.
