Hand Sculpture Holocaust Memorial

In the fall of 1984, a small group of Holocaust survivors formed a committee dedicated to building a permanent memorial to the memory of the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. The Holocaust Memorial Committee was formally established a year later as a private non-profit organization. Its objective was to organize a permanent committee, locate a potential site, develop ideas for the scope and design of the Memorial, and determine ways and means of financial support for the project. With full cooperation from the City of Miami Beach Commission, the present site at Meridian Avenue and Dade Blvd. was designated to receive the Memorial. Kenneth Treister, architect and sculptor, was entrusted with interpreting the Holocaust into a structure that would memorialize its victims, serve as solace to its survivors, and also inform with factual representations in pictures and words of this century's greatest human crime. The Holocaust Memorial on Miami Beach was dedicated and opened to the public in February 1990. Since then, the committee has been devoted not only to maintaining the memorial but also to developing cultural and educational programs for the community.