COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio has dedicated a memorial at the Statehouse honoring victims and survivors of the Holocaust.
State officials and others spoke Monday of the survivors and World War II veterans who helped liberate Nazi death camps during a ceremony marking the dedication of the $2.3 million memorial (above) in their honor at the Statehouse.
The Holocaust and Liberators Memorial not only honors victims and survivors of the Holocaust, but also Ohio’s WWII veterans who fought German forces to liberate death camps.
Gov. John Kasich says he believes the memorial will become a focal point for visitors not only in central Ohio, but also the U.S.
A sloped platform of smooth reddish-grey granite leads visitors to the Ohio Holocaust and Liberators Memorial, partly created from Columbus limestone. A fissure fractures the path down the center and leads visitors to the top of the structure, where two 18-foot bronze monoliths are positioned at a 45 degree angle to one another. The line ascends the center of the monument to a cut-out form of a bisected Star of David.
The stories of two Auschwitz survivors, Michael Schwartz and his cousin, are etched on the face of the bronze monument.
The monument is built of 11 tons of limestone and 13.7 tons of granite.
The Columbus Dispatch reports that former state Sen. Richard Finan objected to a religious symbol on the statehouse grounds.
But Kasich persuaded the Capitol Square Board to approve it, leading Finan to resign from the panel.