New Orleans Holocaust Memorial
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Information on the New Orleans Holocaust Memorial
Along the Mississippi River, near the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans, there is a small memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It's a very interesting design, such that if you look at it from different angles, you see different patterns on the memorial.
The memorial is designed out of standing plates, that are colored so that you see a different pattern from each angle that you look at them.
You can see the star starting to form as you walk around it.
From this angle, the Star of David is visible.
Another side view of the New Orleans Holocaust Memorial.
There are 7 different patterns. The plaque reads:
"1) The first view, a large yellow Star of David, symbolizes the persecution and humiliation of the Jews by their Nazi tormenters and collaborators.
2) This image expresses the dark period when, for the Jews and others, the world became void of light and hope, morality and compassion. Out of this darkness appear six colors representing the souls of the six million Jewish victims who perished in the Holocaust; one and a half million were children. The seventh square is added in loving tribute to the righteous Gentiles, homosexuals, gypsies, and all the other victims of Nazi hate.
3) Behind the seven colors appears a symbolic representation of societal destruction. The disintegrated yellow Star of David can be seen in the background. The mood is one of complete devastation and despair.
4) The chaotic image expresses human misery and the absence of empathy and religious and moral values, including reverence for life itself. But out of this chaos emerges a rainbow, the biblical sign of hope, renewal, and the reassertion of life's worth.
5) We see now the color of the sky that represents human hope and Divine holiness. Out of this color of hope appears, in all its majestic color, a sacred Menorah symbolizing the faithfulness and spiritual values of the Jewish people. The Menorah that stood in the Temple of Jerusalem represents also the miracle of the Chanukah Lights, a timeless emblem of human liberty and the victory over tyranny. The Menorah here is represented by a rainbow and a reversed rainbow.
6) Behind the Menorah appears a double rainbow representing heaven and earth, a call to all people from all faiths, races, and nations that never again must anyone experience such horror on earth. Behind it appears the biblical rainbow, the sacred covenant between God and humankind.
7) Looking back, the symbols of the victim's oppression and destruction can be seen. Behind the yellow Star of David are the chaos, murder, and destruction of those torturous years - The Holocaust."
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