16th and the Parkway, Philadelphia, PA

Zev Steinlauf — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 04:04:26 +0000

Even if you have never been to Philadelphia, chances are that you’ve heard about some part of it- The Love Statue, City Hall, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the world famous Franklin Institute, or any of a number of other well known places. What you probably have not heard of is the Monument to the Six Million Jewish Martyrs. This is the oldest Holocaust memorial in all of North America, and yet it remains almost completely unknown. In the early 1960’s, the Philadelphia Holocaust Memorial Committee hired Nathan Rapoport, just about the most famous Holocaust memorial artist in the world, to create a statue to be placed in the heart of the city. Rapoport constructed the statue in Italy, and in 1964, the Monument to the Six Million Jewish Martyrs was placed on the corner of 16th Street and Ben Franklin Parkway, just one block from the Love Statue and City Hall.

Since that time, with the exception of one day a year, the Monument to the Six Million Jewish Martyrs has been almost completely unnoticed. The one day when this changes is Yom Hashoah- Holocaust Remembrance Day- which this year was held on April 26th. On Yom Hashoah, hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of people gather at the memorial to listen to survivors and liberators speak, and to learn about the history of the Jews. The Monument to the Six Million Jewish Martyrs is more than just a piece of Jewish history however, it is an important part of Philadelphian, and American history. Please don’t let this incredibly important monument simply fade away.

Tell your family, tell your friends, do a google search, visit Philadelphia! It is a great city, and the Monument to the Six Million Jewish Martyrs is waiting for you to find it.

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Zev Steinlauf – Jewcy

16th and the Parkway, Philadelphia, PA