It is difficult to determine exactly how many people died as a result of the Nazis, but scholars agree at least six million Jews, and millions of other victims, were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators. This genocide is known as the Holocaust or Shoah in Hebrew.
Holocaust commemoration and memorialization has evolved over the years. Survivors who emigrated to the United States often had a hard time explaining what they lived through, and Americans had a hard time understanding what happened during the Holocaust. Many survivors did not talk about the past; liberators also remained silent about what they saw at concentration camps.
Memorials like the one before you not only document events in history and prompt us to remember, they also inspire us to take action when we witness or experience present-day instances of hate and prejudice.