Dedication scheduled for Rhode Island Holocaust Memorial

The new memorial awaits dedication. /Brian Sullivan

It is thrilling to announce that the creation of a Rhode Island Holocaust Memorial – a process that began more than 10 years ago – has finally been accomplished. This memorial has been a labor of love, and collaboration between the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island and the Holocaust Education Resource Center of Rhode Island, under the guidance of the Rhode Island Holocaust Memorial Committee. 

According to community records, nearly 200 survivors settled in Rhode Island in the postwar years, arriving from numerous places in Europe.  After starting over in a new country and becoming active participants in the vibrant Rhode Island Jewish community, these survivors have  never forgotten their roots, nor their family and friends who were lost during the horrific events of the Holocaust. 

It is these survivors, as well as those who were lost, that this memorial was designed to honor – a tribute for, on behalf of, and with the collective input of Rhode Island’s remaining Holocaust survivors. Plans are in the works to amend one of the memorial’s pathways to further recognize the local survivor community, giving them the opportunity to have names engraved to be remembered.

The physical work of building the memorial may be completed, but the job is far from finished.  It is now the community’s duty to use it as a conversation starter among children and students to continue to tell the story long after the last of the survivors has passed into history. A smartphone app has been created, with thanks to students in a directed work study program at Johnson and Wales University, to help navigate the memorial site and provide further information about its symbols. Information will also be available on a website dedicated to the Rhode Island Holocaust Memorial (riholocaustmemorial.org), designed by Steve Ide of Idesigngraphics.com. This site will also feature the stories of survivors in the community.

On Aug. 26 at 4 p.m., there will be a public dedication ceremony of the Rhode Island Holocaust Memorial, located on Providence’s River Walk, appropriately alongside the WWI and WWII Memorials, on South Main Street.

MICHELLE CICCHITELLI is chief program officer at the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island. For more information about the memorial or dedication ceremony, or to share a survivor story, please contact her at 401-421-4111, ext. 178 or mcicchitelli@jewishallianceri.org.