Among the many attractions of Miami Beach, there is a Holocaust Memorial that makes you stop and think about the value of life. This place keeps the story of people who survived persecution and concentration camps. The visit will not take much time, but it will definitely turn your inner world upside down.

The Holocaust Memorial is visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists every year. This place is known for its dramatic sculptures and exhibits, created in memory of the six million Jews who were exterminated during World War II.

Holocaust Memorial tries to convey the mood and emotions of that time to its visitors as much as possible, using a mixture of textures, colors and materials. The excursion to the Holocaust Memorial is one of the most difficult, but important, which will always remind humanity of the horrific consequences of genocide and persecution. The memorial is open daily from 9 am to 9 pm, admission is free.

In memory of the experience

In 1984, a small group of Holocaust survivors came together to create a permanent memorial in Miami to the six million Jews who died at the hands of the Nazis. A year later, the Holocaust Memorial Committee was officially established as a private non-profit organization. The committee decided that Miami Beach was the ideal location for such a memorial, as South Florida is home to one of the largest populations of Holocaust survivors in the United States, with many of them living within city limits.

Votes against the construction of the Holocaust Memorial

There were also those who objected to the erection of the memorial. Some disapproved of the idea, arguing that Miami Beach was a place for “sun and fun” and that the Memorial would be too dark a place to relax. Others have said that the Memorial’s presence on city-owned land violates the separation of church and state, arguing that it is a religious monument. Although the Memorial was created in memory of the six million Jews who died during the Holocaust, it is also a historical monument. All religious symbols have been removed.

How was the memorial created?

The memorial was designed by the architect Kenneth Treister. “Imagine that you are in a concentration camp in Poland, surrounded by Nazis, not communicating with the outside world, you are suffering and you are a martyr, you are giving your life,” Treister said, expressing his thoughts on perpetuating the memory of the victims of the Holocaust. “Each of them probably died thinking no one would ever know, no one would ever remember.” Treister’s original sketches depicted an outstretched hand reaching for the sky, with hundreds of small human figures clinging to it and each other.

Other early drawings show emaciated people asking for help, a naked woman holding her child, and a small child crying under a blanket. Critics have argued that the outstretched arm, more than four stories high and tattooed with an Auschwitz numeral, is “grotesque” and “is a brutal intrusion into the cityscape.” Holocaust survivors and committee members said that was the last point. “For someone who said it was unacceptable and tasteless, not expressive, I would ask what he considers acceptable? Is it acceptable for me to stand on a street corner and sob?” founding committee member and Holocaust survivor David Schecter told The Miami Herald in April 1987. Treister’s project was eventually approved. The foundation of the Memorial was giant blocks of Jerusalem stone in pink tones, which were brought from Israel.

Nobody will remain indifferent

The construction of the Memorial took more than four years and on Sunday, February 4, 1990, the opening ceremony took place. The central element of the Memorial is the Sculpture of Love and Torment. This is a huge bronze image of an outstretched hand rising from the earth and stretching towards the heavens. It seems that this is the last jerk of a drowning person before finally going under the water. On it, trying to escape, climb people. On the hand is the number of a concentration camp prisoner. Anne Frank’s words are engraved on the wall behind the sculpture: “Despite everything, I still believe that people are kind at heart.”