Formal plans for the establishment of a Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Grove at Sonoma State University have been announced. The Grove will honor and memorialize all those who have suffered and have been victimized as a result of the Holocaust and other genocides. It is expected to be dedicated in early 2008.
The project will be built on the east side of the campus adjacent to the Alumni Grove by the lakes area, and near a path leading to the future Green Music Center. The Grove is a collaborative effort of a community group--the Alliance for the Study of the Holocaust-- the University's Center for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide, and the School of Social Sciences.
"The special memorial is an important addition to SSU's landscape," said Dr. Elaine Leeder, Dean of Social Sciences and one of the key members of the planning group.
"It makes tangible all the work that the Center for the Study of Holocaust and Genocide and the Alliance have done at the campus for almost 25 years and honors those who were lost in atrocities committed throughout the world."
Leeder's grandmother, aunt, uncle and dozens of cousins were lost in the Holocaust during World War II. Dr. Myrna Goodman, the Director of SSU's Center for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide, noted that while the Holocaust marked a crucial point in history, the first genocide of the twentieth century was the Armenian Genocide which lasted from 1915- 1917. Since the second half of the twentieth century, the world has witnessed approximately one genocide per decade.
An original sculpture for the Memorial Grove has been designed by art Jann Nunn, SSU Associate Professor of Sculpture. The sculpture/installation includes an internally illuminated glass column representing hope for the future with the goal that through educational efforts, such as those as offered by the Center, genocide will no longer be part of the landscape.
The sculpture includes two 40-foot-long railroad tracks embedded in the lawn. The converging steel lines emerge from a gentle slope of ground and intersect a pedestrian footpath. The steel lines come within six inches of each other, at which point they merge into the illuminated ten-foot tall glass column of light.
The railroad ties have been donated to the effort by Union Pacific.
"The narrowing distance between the tracks represents the hope of diminishing incidents of genocide as civilization progresses and we learn from past errors," said Nunn. Her work frequently addresses concerns of under-represented or marginalized groups or individuals.
Rows of ivory colored memorial bricks will be placed in the position of railroad ties relative to the steel tracks. The bricks will be sold by subscription with the proceeds benefiting the University's lecture series on the Holocaust and Genocide. "Each brick will be laser inscribed with names and memorial expressions that serve to remind us of past atrocities and provide hope for the future," Nunn added.
Two sizes of bricks will be sold to the public: 4X8 inch for $100, and 8X8 inch for $250. For information on purchasing bricks, contact Kate McClintock at (707) 664-2693 or e-mail kate.mcclintock@sonoma.edu. Information about the Memorial Grove is available at http://www.ssualumni.org/holo.htm as are forms for ordering the memorial bricks.
The initial concept of the Memorial Grove was shared last September at a special event honoring more than 50 Holocaust survivors in Sonoma County at which recent photographic portraits of local residents who survived or
escaped the Holocaust by Ilka Hartmann were shown.
The Alliance for the Study of the Holocaust is pleased to announce that those portraits, A SECOND GIFT OF LIFE, will be on display in the Gallery of the Center for Culture, Gender and Sexuality on the first floor of the Student Union on the Sonoma State University campus from May 1-28. The opening reception will be May 3 from 4 to 6 p.m.
More information about the Grove will be available at the reception.
NOTE: Digital photos of the model for the Memorial are available upon request.
SPECIAL LECTURE ON WORK-IN-PROGRESS
Sculpture professor Jann Nunn invites the community to an informal discussion to view the work-in-progress on Thursday, May 3 from noon to 1 p.m. in Art 115.
