NEVER AGAIN!

Sounds of children playing, geese quacking and the hustle and bustle of people going to the Palm Desert Street Fair followed me, as I approached the Desert Holocaust Memorial. The Memorial is an outstanding art installation made up of a series of several outdoor sculptures by artist, Dee Clements.

While this was not my first visit, I am always a little awestruck as I approach the circular row of trees (symbolic of life outside of the enclosed fences of the concentration camps) that encase the memorial. Right at the front of the Memorial is a history pedestal containing the names of 12,000 Righteous Gentiles who hid or assisted men, women and children condemned by the Nazi regime during the Holocaust.

In the center of the exhibit, are 7 larger-than-life bronze figures representing the people and different aspects of the Holocaust. The man standing tall is meant to represent the resistance of the Jews and others that fought against the Nazi tyranny. The left forearm on this figure bears the actual number tattooed on a local Holocaust survivor.

The other sculptures are of a mother and her two children begging for mercy, a boy from the ghetto, a rabbi praying, and a man who is alone, dying. The faces and representations were taken from actual photo graphics and news footage researched by the artist at the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C.

Each of the 7 figures is mounted on a granite double-tiered Star of David 20 feet in diameter. The Star of David is etched with a map of Europe indicating the location of concentration camps, as well as the number of persons who perished. The cobblestone and light standards are replicas of those at Auschwitz.

This haunting and spell-binding Memorial is a tribute to the millions of innocent people - friends, relatives, parents, and loved ones who were killed. Undoubtedly, it is a place of reverence, sadness and remembrance; and yet remarkably, it is also a place of hope that we can, once and for all, rise above our prejudices and live in peace with each other.