Rabbi Gordon Geller stands before a model of the Boardwalk Holocaust memorial.
ATLANTIC CITY – A committee working to get a Holocaust Memorial built on the Boardwalk kicked off its capital campaign, Wednesday, June 26 with a reception held at the Fannie Lou Hamer Event Center at Stockton University Atlantic City campus.
Architect Dan Mascione of Northfield displayed a model of his design and explained in a PowerPoint presentation the work needed to reinforce the Boardwalk and erect the concrete, stone and steel monument, which will be located at Roosevelt Plaza.
Rabbi Gordon Geller of Shirat Hayam synagogue in Ventnor conceived the idea of placing a memorial on the Boardwalk about 10 years ago.
With the creation of the Gateway Project in the Atlantic City Tourism District and Stockton University’s Atlantic City Campus, university President Harvey Kesselman advocated to have the monument placed in front of the Stockton Boardwalk campus.
Architect Daniel Mascione discusses the design for the Boardwalk Holocaust Memorial.
Stockton University is home to the Sara and Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center, which will assist in educating students and the public about Holocaust history, intolerance and foster understanding.
Mascione said the Boardwalk would need to be supported, and that amenities, such as lighting and signage, would be installed at a later time.
Geller offered his interpretation of the design, which includes a white concrete wave rolling over a rebar cage filled with stones.
“The idea of the stones represents the ancient Jewish tradition of placing a pebble or stone on the gravesite. The stones to me represent the graveyard of European Jewry because of the Holocaust,” he said.
“Everyone will have their own version of what it represents,” Mascione said. “We wanted to come up with a design that would be meaningful for everyone.”
Former Miss America Suzette Charles discusses her impression of the memorial.
Because it will be located at the shore, the wave is an appropriate representation of the Nazis’ final solution, a genocidal wave or tsunami, Geller said.
The monument will be located on the highly traveled Boardwalk and will have benches were visitors can sit and reflect on what they are viewing.
Another viewer said the stones could also represent the cities, towns and hamlets where European Jews lived.
Not everyone present approved of the design.
Former Miss America Suzette Charles, who is half Jewish and raised her children in modern Orthodoxy, said the design was not “emotional” enough.
“In my opinion, young people don’t know much about the Holocaust, and with the terrible wave of antisemitism and people denying it ever happened, I don’t feel that emotion transported through this statue,” she said. “It doesn’t say enough. If it were a box of shoes or clothes, like in Auschwitz, it would do more to educate.”
Father Jon Thomas, right, listens to Rabbi Gordon Geller talk about the memorial.
Father Jon Thomas, pastor of St. Monica’s Parish in Atlantic City, said 100 years from now, the concrete will crumble, and the steel will rust, but the stones representing towns and hamlets will remain.
Geller said that in relation to any modernistic depiction of the Holocaust, the meaning is subject to interpretation.
“Many people have a difficult time and prefer something more realistic, such as bodies or flames,” he said. “This is built for today and into the future and we needed to find symbolism that is meaningful and not too horrific.”
“Most literal things are in museums and surrounded by a lot more information,” Mascione said. “This is going to be on the Boardwalk.”
Ventnor resident Peter Karabasian said the monument represents more than the Holocaust, which claimed the lives of more than 5 million Jews, but also the genocide of other peoples around the world.
Geller said there will be numerous opportunities for the university and Holocaust Resource Center to educate students and the public about the Holocaust and man’s inhumanity to man. Signage, with the possibility of using video display boards, will be created, he said.
“There was controversy over the Vietnam Memorial when it was built,” he said. “People didn’t understand that simple design, but over the years, that simple design has become a shrine where people bend their knees.”
Geller said the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority has offered a $500,000 matching grant to get the monument built. The memorial committee will raise the remaining $500,000 needed to see the project through. He hopes to see the memorial monument erected within a year. The City Council of Atlantic City passed a resolution on Jan. 17 approving a revocable license to construct and maintain the memorial at the Roosevelt Plaza pavilion for $1.
“We are making out quite well. We already received a $100,000 pledge from a supporter of means, and there are many more people in the community are stepping up,” Geller said. “We will recognize major donors and corporations. This was just an introductory event. Other fundraisers are planned.”
For more information, to volunteer or make a donation, see acbhm.org.
