By Michael Wynne
Louisiana has many fascinating memorials, but as far as this columnist knows, there are none so moving and so important as the Alexandria Holocaust Memorial in downtown Alexandria. Located at the corner of 4th and Elliott Streets near Rapides Regional Medical Center, this obelisk sits quietly surrounded by a small grove of trees as cars whisk by it every day.
The Alexandra Holocaust Memorial was built so that visitors could honor and remember the six million Jews – including one and a half million children – who were killed in the Holocaust during World War II and before. The memorial also honors the non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust, as well as the victims of ethnic cleansing, genocide, and other forms of man’s inhumanity to man in all places and times. The Memorial additionally recognizes the extraordinary efforts of the resistors and rescuers during these especially traumatic times of past and present. The obelisk is 18 feet high and weighs 15 tons. In Jewish tradition, the number 18 has an almost mystical significance. The Hebrew letters for 18 mean LIFE and are used often at happy occasions celebrating important events.
The idea for a memorial, as told to this columnist by local Alexandria activists Mike Tudor and Rabbi Arnold Task, comes from a walk they had together in New Orleans along the riverfront several years ago. They both saw and noted a memorial to the Jewish Holocaust there, a nice memorial, but they felt not a large enough memorial befitting the subject matter. Both Mike and Rabbi Arnold felt that Alexandria could, and would, do much better in creating a memorial, considering the very proud Judaic heritage that Alexandria holds. “The soldiers who trained here (during the Louisiana Maneuvers) were among those who took part in the D-Day invasion and subsequently were involved in the ending of the Holocaust,” Rabbi Task said, “Among the camps that were liberated by troops that were trained here were Dachau, Buchenwald, and Flossenberg.”
But monuments these days, particularly of the quality that the committee later formed to create a memorial planned for, would require substantial financial backing as well as community support. But, the people of Alexandria did fully support the idea of this memorial and provided the necessary funding for its construction. The obelisk memorial site was dedicated with much fanfare on April 29, 2013, the day known as Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah). The actual completed memorial was dedicated on November 10, 2013, the 75th anniversary of the Kristallnacht attacks by Nazis against Jews in Germany and Austria.
Mike Tudor says he still gets choked up thinking about this monument and its important community legacy. The memorial hosts annual observances, including the beginning ceremonies for the annual Victim’s Rights’ Walk that is held every April since 2014. In 2015, there was a dedication of ceremonial rocks, each representing one of the liberated prisoner-of-war camps. Rabbi Task said, “We have created a walking trail for groups that come to the monument so they can become familiar with these places of infamy.”
The Alexandria Holocaust Memorial is a place of remembrance, of quiet contemplation, and unity in the face of evil.
