A monument to the 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis in World War II was dedicated Sunday outside the Jewish Community Cen-ter, 14th and Nebraska Streets. On the dedi-catory program were (from left) Sam Schind-ler (second man from monument), Rabbi Albert A. Gordon, Rabbi Philip Silverstein, Rabbi Saul I. Bolotnikov, Cantor Fred Mannes, Jewish Federation President Harold Rosenthal, and Aaron Murawnik.
Dedicate Memorial to Jewish Victims of 'Hitler Holocaust'
Although 22 years have elapsed since Germany signed unconditional surrender ending the war in Europe, the atrocities committed by Nazis against European Jews were well remembered in Sioux City Sunday.
An estimated 200 to 250 persons, Jews and persons of other faiths, assembled at the corner of 14th and Nebraska Streets outside the Jewish Community Center to dedicate a stone memorial to the 6 million Jews who perished in World War II. Members of the crowd joined rabbis in prayers for the dead.
Include 27 Survivors
Among those attending were 27 Sioux Cityans who survived the 1939-1945 German concentration camps. This group financed the memorial and arranged for its dedication Sunday, a day that is celebrated by Jews around the world as the 24th anniversary of the Warsaw uprising.
Rabbi Saul I. Bolotnikov, in his dedicatory address, said the monument was erected as “a warning in the future that nothing of this kind shall happen again.”
He said the monument “comes from our hearts to identify with those who lived like martyrs and died like martyrs.”
Rabbi Bolotnikov said the monument was needed because “there is a tendency to forget and to deny what happened.” The neo-Nazis in Germany deny 6 million Jews perished. “Their spokesmen say only 30,000,” the rabbi contended.
Attempt to Obliterate
When a recent monument was erected in Poland there “was not one mention of the poor Jews.” He continued, “The holocaust is sunk in the ocean and everyone tries to forget and make us forget that it occurred.”
The rabbi related an incident in one of the ghettos:
A Jewish man told a rabbi he wanted to commit suicide because he couldn’t bear seeing his wife and children die before his eyes. The rabbi told the man he was not allowed to. “Let the Germans see how Jewish people live under the circumstances,” said the rabbi.
Rabbi Bolotnikov said the Warsaw uprising was a “tribute to God, justice and humanity.”
Warns Against Repetition
Sioux City Mayor Don Mullin told the gathering the stone of the monument “must tell those who follow us that hard hearts, twisted minds, and diabolical hatred must never again, through brute force commit the sin of genocide.”
Others on the program included Harold Rosenthal, president of the Jewish Federation, who spoke briefly and introduced others on the program; Rabbi Philip Silverstein who read from the scriptures; Rabbi Albert A. Gordon who spoke and gave a prayer. Sam Schindler, chair-man of the sponsoring group, gave an account of events leading to the monument. Cantor Fred Manes sang “We Believe,” the prayer that Jews sang before they went to the gas cham-bers, and also a prayer for the dead. Rabbi Joseph Koprak gave a memorial prayer for the 6 million Jews. The crowd joined in the prayers.
Unveiled by Survivor
The monument was unveiled by Aaron Murawnik, a survivor of the Warsaw ghetto who spearheaded the drive for the memorial, and also Mr. Schindler.
The lights, which will illuminate it at night, and the six jets of water, which stand for the 6 million who died, were turned on by Jake Kooperman and his brother Borin Kuperman.
The stone is inscribed as follows: ‘By the symbol ‘vov,’ the
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