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New England Holocaust Memorial
Rating Details »
Category: Landmarks & Historical Buildings [Edit]
Congress StBetween North St and Hanover St
Boston, MA 02109
(617) 635-4505
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State (Blue, Orange)
Government Center (Blue, Green)
Park Street (Green, Red)
28 reviews for New England Holocaust Memorial
My fiance is from Burlington so he took me around Boston on one of my first visits.. we were in the area near Faneuil Hall and I remember walking through the Holocaust Memorial. It's interesting that the Freedom Trail is right there so it really puts an emphasis on the significance of freedom.
The design is interesting if you really look at the meaning behind the components. There are six glass towers (six main death camps) that have light from the inside so you should try to stop by at night. With smoke rising throughout the memorial, I was really impacted by this experience.. it gave me chills.
Can you believe that six million numbers are etched in that glass? Six million significant of six million Jews tattooed with those numbers who lost their lives. Such a profound memorial that helps remind me how blessed and grateful I am for my freedom.
If you're in/around Gov't Center or Haymarket and have 5 minutes to spare, this memorial is wonderful to visit. When I spent a year in Boston for college I actually didn't know about this spot until I stumbled upon it one day. It's a beautiful and heartbreaking reminder of suffering and loss than anyone can relate to.
The 6 towers you walk through are lit from within and represent 6 of the major death camps responsible for killing 6 million Jews during WWII. Each tower has 1 million numbers etched in it representing the actual ID numbers people were given in the form of tattoos. It's a devastating, yet beautiful way to represent such an ugly part of world history. As you walk between the towers you see smoke and embers to remind you of the tragic way in which millions of innocent lives were taken. Real quotes from survivors are also on display.
Just thinking about this spot makes me want to revisit it. Although it's sad it's important that we never forget this ugly part of our history and continue to learn from it and teach our children that hate will get you nowhere. I see it as a great educational tool for children especially. Seeing literally millions of numbers etched in the glass really helps drive the point home that this event was so big we can't forget it.
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This is, without a doubt, one of the WORST pieces of art in Boston.
Boston has the WORST reputation for producing decent displays of public art. And if you question that, go look at this monstrosity, or the creepy starving family outside Borders a couple blocks away.
This thing is a joke. I like how the numbers of the people are displayed VERTICALLY. Unless you are someone who stands 40 feet tall, how are you supposed to read the numbers way up top? What if one of them is related to you and you want to see it? Stupid design.
I don't get the thing with the burning-glowing coal-like steaming embers below you as you walk down the middle of the art piece. Is that supposed to be charred bodies down there from the nazi furnaces? Creepy and weird and a total JOKE.
I am a World War II history buff and have come to try to gain as much information about this time as possible. In my search for information,and moreover stories from survivors and victims I have come across many wonderful books, films, and the like but the most breathtaking experience in my quest for this knowledge have been my many trips to this Memorial.
Whenever I am in this area I try to at least take a few minutes and quietly walk through it. As my sign of respect towards those lost in this terrible moment of history that has forever changed the world.
The numbers and how the smoke rises from the Memorial remind us and anyone who can see it from the street in passing of the eerie reality of what to most of us seems like fiction or at best a nightmare.
I have yet to be able to visit the Memorial Museum in Washington, DC but I am sure that is done with just as much grace and dignity as this much smaller one in Boston.
When in Boston do take the time to pay your own respects and remember that time in history and how lucky we are to have our basic freedoms.
I thought this was the most awsome thing I saw in Boston..The reality of it when you are standing there takes your breath away..Any one that could stand on those grates and look up on the glass towers and not want to cry for those poor people and their families have no hearts. How could anyone write a bad review about something so moving...
(A Haiku in Six Parts)
On the Freedom Trail,
my mother, sister, and I
come across this place.
We are solemn and
thoughtful as we look upward
to glass columns
inscribed with prison
ID numbers. They fill the sky
with a sense of loss.
We then look downward
at slabs of granite, where they
bring us readers down
to Earth-- savoring
quotes of tolerance and hope.
I also read a
word on the ground that
strikes a chord for its simple
message/
\"Remember."
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We thought the memorial was great until we found the inscription that said America and the Allies knew about the concentration camps in 1943 and did nothing about them. Almost all the camps were in Eastern Europe. America and the Allies had no way to get there until they fought their way across Europe, which was impossible until the June, 1944 invasion of France and another year of intense warfare. This slander of America ruined the memorial for us.
This memorial is gorgeous, breath-taking, and awe-inspiring... I saw it again while in Boston last year but remembered it vividly from a trip to Boston as a middle schooler. This last trip, I had a chance to see the memorial at night time when it is even more beautiful than during the day...
Tall glass structures are etched with names of people who were killed during the Holocaust. Steam rises from the holes below the ground. However, I should not even be describing this as I can not do it justice... please check it out yourself if you can!
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While walking one day in the middle of the winter I saw this.
It looked interesting from a distance. Just these three hollow , glass towers with steam rising from some grates under them. You don't realize how amazing it is until you get close to it.
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I dont particularly like the location, but this is Boston, so a pub across the street....no I understand a good piece of real estate near Freedom Trail is expensive.
The memorial is very symbolic and suggestive. The quotes are quite fitting. Definitely makes you think. Ive been to all Poland's extermination camps, and I didn't think that this memorial would have any affect on me. I was thinking I saw it all, but this memorial did give me goose bumbs. Its very moving. Very well done.
"For your benefit, learn from our tragedy. It is not a written law that the next victims must be Jews." -Simon Wiesenthal
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We were told when we came to visit that we had to see the Holocaust Memorial while we were here. We came across it accidentally while walking the Freedom Trail. I really liked the Memorial and thought it was done very well and tastefully. Each of the six columns represented a different Concentration Camp and there are six million tattoo numbers etched into the glass of each column. Smoke rises from the tall columns as a symbol of the souls of the victims rising.
This is a must see if you visit Boston; it doesn't take up a lot of time and it's right near all the tourist stuff. Definitely take time to visit this memorial.
The first time I visited the New England Holocaust Memorial was unplanned. I had a meeting nearby, I arrived early and had a little bit of time to wait before my appointment. I was walking and came across the Memorial. As I got closer and realized what it was I was stunned. Profoundly. This Memorial is very affecting. Whoever designed it was genius at creating visual and emotional impact.
The placement of the glass towers over steam vents creates a haunting evocative feeling and pulls you out of the surrounding city bustle. The numbers etched in the glass that seem to stretch endlessly toward the heavens...The numerous quotes...The names of the camps...
I brought my wife here the same way, she wasn't planning a visit, didn't know it was there. It may sound mean but she really appreciated it. We brought my brother-in-law and our kids the same way. It just seems to have a very deep impact when suddenly there it is.
The last time we were there with our children we met an older gentleman from Germany who was visiting New England. He told us about how when he was 9 he was taken from his home and put in the Hitler Youth. He was terrified but things fell apart shortly after he was drafted. We talked for a little while about humanity and how easily people can be convinced to hate.
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This is an amazing memorial. Definitely take the time to read the quotes. I've visited here three different times over three years, and every time it leaves me very emotional. The symbolism is amazing.
This is the description of the design from the web site http://www.nehm.org:
"The Memorial design features six luminous glass towers, each reaching fifty-four feet high, and each lit internally from top to bottom. Six million numbers are etched in the glass. These numbers represent the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust and are suggestive of the infamous tattoos the Nazis inflicted on many of the victims.
"Visitors walk a black granite path through the Memorial, passing under the towers. At the base of each tower, a stainless steel grate covers a six-foot deep chamber. On the wall of each chamber is inscribed one of the names of the six primary Nazi death camps: Majdanek, Chelmno, Sobibor, Treblinka, Belzec, and Auschwitz-Birkenau. At the bottom of the pits, smoldering coals illuminate the names of the camps.
"Always suggestive, but not literal, the New England Holocaust Memorial design arouses countless acts of memory, response, and understanding as many as there are visitors to the Memorial itself."
At first the memorial seemed to be placed in a strange location to me, since it's in such contrast to the other buildings on the Freedom Trail, but maybe that's the point. Not to be missed.
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Well I had to find certain numbers on the pillars for a scavenger hunt.
Besides that frustration, this small grassy area (between two streets, backed up against a row of bars, sidling a T stop and the biggest tourist destination in Boston) is surprisingly haunting. It toes the line of over the top, but I think it successfully remains both respectful and tragic.
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If you can get through this without feeling something, you're a heartless bastard. The quotes along the ground and on the glass panels are moving. The sheer number of people represented by the numbers etched into the glass panels towering up a few stories for each segment is mind-numbing. People should be reminded of what their fellow man is capable of. Never forget.
Remembering is the only way this can be prevented from happening again.
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Very fascinating site.
I couldn't keep my eyes from watering when a little girl so innocently asked her mother why someone killed all these people.
The quotes are very powerful and moving, be sure to read them all. I recommend going alone if you are personal about emotions.
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Aptly located near the Freedom Trail, this is stark and powerful, on par with the Vietnam Memorial in DC. Tall glass columns are etched with six million numbers (not names). When you're inside a column, the numbers are almost invisible, reminding us that the world ignored the Holocaust for much too long.
The Memorial is also inscribed with facts. Example: "At the end of the War, 99% of Denmark's Jews were still alive." It's also etched with eloquent statements from witnesses and survivors. Example (Gerda Weissman Klein):
"Ilse, a childhood friend of mine,
once found a raspberry in the camp
and carried it in her pocket all day
to present to me that night on a leaf.
Imagine a world in which
your entire possession is
one raspberry and
you give it to your friend."
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I was on my way to a bar (and visiting from San Diego) when my sister said, "You haven't seen this yet let's check it out." Well, I'm still a bit speechless. All I can say is that the quotes were very well done and the sheer numbers of those excecuted stretching towards heaven is overwhelming. The gas coming up at you from the grates below was a little too much for me and I ended up feeling like I needed to run the heck out of there. Did it make me remember the atrocities? Yes. Did it make me uncomfortable? Yes. Did it make me sad? Yes. Did it make me really need a drink? Yes. Artist's mission accomplished.
Pretty friggin awesome, as memorials go. If there was every anything that stuck in my mind about Boston, before I moved here, it was this--it's haunting, kind of terrifying, really concise, clean, well-maintained, and really hits the point home.
I think people would be, in general, hesitant to critique a memorial of any sort in even a slightly negative manner, because they might risk sounding insensitive to the cause being memorialized--not me. I really honestly think this is a great concept, well thought-out, and executed. Architecturally, it's stunning, to boot.
Check it out, for sure.
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Located along the Freedom Trail across from City Hall, this stunning reminder of one of history's most horrific periods was designed by San Francisco artist Stanley Saitowitz, who was raised Orthodox in Johannesburg. Six fifty-four-foot towers of glass and steel, representing the major camps, are etched with one million numbers in memory of all the victims, along with quotations and text. Each tower sits adjacent to a small pit, from which a small cloud of steam rises, and fiberglass panels help create the illusion of fire. An overwhelming sense of shock and extreme sorrow follows the sudden recognition that these elements are evocative of the gas chambers. At the end of the memorial, a cylinder containing ashes from the camps is buried beneath the dedication panel. In the midst of downtown Boston's hustle-and-bustle, this is a sobering spot for serious reflection.
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The Holocaust Memorial is much more than a breathtaking, emotional, and beautiful piece of art. It is history and people. The memorial is covered with quotes of those who suffered during the holocaust and facts about this tragic human event. I walked back and forth through it multiple times, reading everything I could and was nothing short of moved. If you are site seeing do no neglect this stop. It is moving and educational.
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The first time I saw this memorial, I was pretty young. But, I distinctly remember getting upset. Something about the devastation was apparent to me, even tough I didn't even fully understand the events that were represented. Seeing it now, I recognize the same feelings and I can appreciate the magnitude of this memorial. It's truly beautiful and captures the essence of what it is representing at the subliminal level.
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This memorial is absolutely stunning...despite being right next to the craziness and bustle of Faneuil Hall, it has a sereness to it that really makes you forget about everything else and concentrate on it and it alone. As you walk through, definitely examine the engravings, and take your time, no matter how busy it is. Slowing other people down will be a good thing!
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The Holocaust Memorial is best experienced when it is just getting dark outside - light enough to read everything, but dark enough to really experience the steam and the lights. Also, there are less tourists around at night so you can take it all in without being bothered.
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The first time I ever saw this memorial it actually made me tear up. I'm not one to get so emotional about things but standing here literally made me pause, take a minute out of my night of acting like a drunk asshole (aah, the old days) and just think about what really mattered. The memorial is quiet, dignified, and very appropriate. Despite being next to the insanity that can be Faneuil Hall, I don't think there's a better location for it.
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This memorial is incredible and, like the other reviewers noted, very moving. What I particularly enjoyed was that they have you stop and read quotes along the way, and they try to make you feel something physically as well. For example, one of the quotes in about the burning heat of the ovens and there is a vent that blows hot air on you while you stand to read the quote. It's very well-done and is a must-see.
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Tears streamed down my face when I walked thru this thing because the steam coming from below hurt my eyes. Tricky!
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Read all the engravings... some pretty moving stuff.
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