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The Effectiveness of the Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach: Why Interactivity

and Location are Important in Commemorating

Irene Murua Txintxurreta

University of Detroit Mercy

ENL 1310: Academic Writing

Caleb Lalinsky

December 8, 2021
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The Effectiveness of the Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach: Why Interactivity

and Location are Important in Commemorating

The Holocaust was taboo. In the first years after the massacre, little was talked about it.

What is more, many anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that asserted that the Nazi genocide of Jews

was a myth or fabrication were being circulated. However, accurate and less biased information

was then applied to the study of the Holocaust, and facts emerged to change the historical

understanding of it. Holocaust deniers rapidly started disappearing since facts, proofs, and

testimonies left them with no arguments. At the same time, memorials to commemorate this

tragedy began to appear all over the world. The Monument to the Ghetto Heroes in Germany and

The Krakow Ghetto Wall in Poland are some of the examples of this large list. One of the most

famous tributes to this memorial, as well as the most controversial, is the Holocaust Memorial in

Miami Beach. This memorial has been widely criticized, and its effectiveness has been

questioned. The truth is that although it is an emotional and educational tribute, by its design it is

not open for reflection or interpretation, which is one of the most important traits that a memorial

should have.

It is intended that readers who are curious about the Holocaust and this specific memorial

will be drawn to this piece. At the same time, this composition will be enriching for people that

criticized the memorial because, throughout the essay, they will learn what the purpose of the

designer was, and they will be able to understand the meaning of the tribute. Moreover, they will

see it from an unfamiliar perspective, and learn about things that they did not know before.

Following up on the previous study, it was determined that the Holocaust Memorial in Miami
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Beach was a controversial memorial that has been widely criticized. While that earlier research

yielded some ideas and views, there was still a lot more to discover. After finding a lot of

criticism about this memorial, good reason was found to question its efficacy. Although a lot of

information about the specific memorial was found, more research about memorials in general

was required to understand if The Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach is or not an effective

memorial.

The Holocaust, the extermination of about six million European Jews by Nazi Germany

and its allies during World War II, was an ultimate expression of a murderous trend that existed

in racial and ethnic hate. The Holocaust era began in January 1933, when Adolf Hitler and Nazi

Party came to power in Germany. It came to an end in May 1945, when the Allied Powers

defeated the Nazis in World War II. It took place throughout German- and Axis-controlled

Europe. Anti-Semitism – the hatred of or prejudice against Jews – was the catalyst for the

Holocaust. Antisemitism was, in fact, a central pillar of the Nazi’s philosophy and the bedrock of

their worldview. The Nazis falsely claimed that Jews were responsible for Germany’s social,

economic, political, and cultural issues. Particularly, they blamed them for Germany’s defeat in

World War I. When Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, he did not begin mass-murdering

people immediately. Nevertheless, the Nazis rapidly began using their power to persecute and

marginalize Jews in German society. Among other anti-Semitic measures, the Nazi German

regime enacted discriminatory laws and organized violence targeting Germany’s Jews (Krieger,

2021, para. 7). Eventually, The Nazi persecution of Jews started becoming increasingly radical.

The Nazis created a plan referred to as the “Final Solution to Jewish Question.” The "Final

Solution" was the wholesale extermination of European Jews in an organized and methodical

manner. Between 1941 and 1945, the Nazi German regime carried out this genocide, and they
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killed nearly two out of every three European Jews using deadly living conditions, brutal

mistreatment, mass shootings and gassings, and specially designed killing centers.

During the last twenty years of the twentieth century, the construction of memorials and

museums dedicated to the memory of the Holocaust proliferated. The center of this production

was in the United States, the recipient country of a large number of Holocaust survivors. At the

same time, the Holocaust Memorial Committee was formed and established as a private, non-

profit organization. The large number of survivors living in the region, which at the time

exceeded twenty thousand, fostered the need to create a place of remembrance. In Miami, a

group of them took the initiative in the mid-1980s to create a memorial dedicated to the memory

of the six million murdered Jews: The Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach.
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The main monument of the memorial is a huge hand that reaches up to the sky, in which

several bodies of men, women, and children are trying to climb or hold on to it. Around it, the

walls contain the names of those murdered in the Holocaust. On the sides, there are various

sculptures with inscriptions on the back. One sculpture, located on the right, is a mother cradling

two children. All three are crying and expressing despair. Behind them there is a quote from

Anne Frank, "Then the spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”

The second sculpture, located on the left, shows three people, two adults and a child, lying on the

floor, passed out or already dead (Wechsler, 2015, p.12). The phrase on the back, also by Anne

Frank, reads: "Ideals. Dreams. And cherished hopes rise within us only to meet the horrible truth.

And be shattered." The entrance on the right side of the memorial is through a gallery that

contains images of the Holocaust engraved in the stone. (Wechsler, 2015, p.13) These photos are

called “images of horror”: Children in the ghettos, the Einsatzgruppen murdering, overcrowded

train wagons transporting people, extermination camp inmates in their bunk beds, piles of bodies

and so on. All recorded images have an explanation underneath of what is being displayed.
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In trying to tell the story of the Holocaust, the Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach faces

many challenges such as ethical, moral, and ideological dilemmas. The architecture of the

memorial has a structure that goes from the widest, airy and free, to the heart of the place, small

and concentrated - the "heart" of the memory. The garden, with flowers and open-air, a lagoon,

and spaces to contemplate the water, surrounds this center full of images, sculptures, names, and

voices. However, the space of the center is invasive in every way: the constant music, the excess

of sculptures, the huge list of names, manage to suffocate the visitor. For this reason, the exit is

liberating. The architecture, then, forms an allegorical and even evocative design of the history

of the Holocaust. Besides that, all the sculptures are human bodies, of all generations: babies,

children, young people, adults, and the elderly, and their faces and expressions appeal to realism.

The sculptor brings the audience close to bodies of real sizes, naked and fragile, desperate and

anguished. The sculptures express faces of pain that are asking for help, and all the bodies are

striking to the eye. This makes the visit experience impactful.

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This tribute generated several controversies in the United States. In fact, the memorial's

official website itself recounts some bad reviews against the memorial. “As preparations were

being made to build the Memorial, there were those who objected to its erection. Several

disapproved, arguing that Miami Beach was a place for “sun and fun” and the Memorial would

be too somber for the vacation destination (Resnick, 2018, para. 3). For example, a member of

the Miami Beach Garden Club, Florence Shubim, stated that they should not “turn one of this

city’s few bright spots into a cemetery” (Resnick, 2018, para. 4). Other people were against it

because they considered it to be a religious monument, and since it was placed on city-owned

land, it violated the separation of church and state. The memorial committee answered these

critics by saying that “the Memorial is in memory of the six million Jews who died during the

Holocaust, it is a patently historical monument and any religious symbols were removed”

(Resnick, 2018, para. 5). Moreover, there were other bad reviews of the design, arguing that it

was grotesque and a brutal intrusion into the cityscape. In the face of these accusations,

Holocaust survivors and committee members responded that that was exactly the point of the

memorial. According to an article published by Sun-Sentinel, the main daily newspaper of Ft.

Lauderdale, Florida, the architect said that the memorial has not been built to satisfy the aesthetic

taste of art critics. "It is there to convey a message, inform people of the horror that was done”

(Nevins, 1990). Some other criticisms have been made against this memorial but at the same

time, there are some complimentary reviews about it.

The Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach has some characteristics and elements that an

effective memorial should possess. According to Erika Doss, the author of Remembering 9/11:

Memorials and Cultural Memory, memorials are “useful, if overlooked, resources for examining

how different Americans reckon with particular issues and interests. They are ideal teaching
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tools in terms of considering how, and why, cultural memory is created, and how it shapes local

and national identity (Doss, 2011, p. 1). This specific memorial has multiple functions. On the

one hand, it is a site created as a symbol of those tombs never established. That is, it becomes a

place of shared mourning. On the other hand, this memorial leaves a mark for posterity. At the

same time, it has an educational purpose, teaching a part of history that, although it happened on

another continent and in another space of time, left its mark on all the spaces of the world. The

Holocaust Memorial Committee gave architect Kenneth Treister the challenge to create a space

that remembers, conveys, and teaches about the Holocaust. Thus, the space was created in order

to process and to mourn what happened. Furthermore, it sought to inform so that future

generations would not forget what happened.

As mentioned before, the memorial effectively accomplishes its educational and

pedagogical purpose. The art and images that are presented have strong emotional content. Apart

from that, the messages it offers seem to be proofs, truths, closed answers about a historical fact.

The gaze, placed exclusively on the victims, exposes the pain, anguish, and loss; and the

photographs provide evidence, truths, and testimonies. The images selected by the memorial are

reflections of the atrocity, testimonies of the Nazi horror. This pedagogy of horror seeks

understanding through a strong, violent, and shocking message. In actual fact, the memorial is a

tribute to a perished civilization and a place where people can pay their respects to those who

passed away.

However, it does not offer spaces to open questions about what happened. This memorial

does not call for an instance of reflection and visitors cannot interact with it. It would be

interesting to give the visitor the possibility to take away questions, anxieties, and doubts about

what happened. So that what happened is not repeated, it is necessary to appeal to the question,
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to reflection, to uncertainty, and the need for a search after the visit. According to Erika S.

Svendsen and Lindsay K. Campbell, the authors of the article Living Memorials: Understanding

the Social Meanings of Community, “memorials are intended to encourage reflection” Clearly,

this is something that The Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach fails to meet. It is necessary to

allow a dialogue between the memorial and its visitors, that is to say, to make it active. In order

for the spectators to be able to interpret, they must feel challenged and not merely a spectator of

the facts.

Apart from that, the Holocaust Memorial Committee and the sculptor of this memorial

forgot the importance that location plays in shaping the meaning and politics of commemoration.

As Derek Alderman said, the author of Memorials and Monuments, “The location of memorials

and monuments can significantly influence the power they are perceived to have, as well as the

kinds of messages they communicate about the past” (Alderman, 2009, p.3). Although it is true

that South Florida is a territory that contains the largest population of Holocaust survivors in the

United States, it is not the best location for this memorial because of an obvious reason. It is

installed between shopping malls and beaches, really close to Lincoln Avenue and Collins

Avenue. A large part of the tourists that are attracted to this place, or Miami Beach in general, is

looking for “sun and fun.” They are interested in taking a break from reality, and they are

definitely not anxious about visiting a shocking memorial, which has strong emotional content.

So, the Committee could have chosen another city in South Florida, that attracts educational or

cultural tourists who respect the memorial, and give it the attention it deserves.

As expressed, The Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach does not manage to be fully

effective. It is true that Kenneth Treister overcomes the challenge of creating a space that

remembers, conveys, and teaches about the Holocaust. At the same time, it is an educational
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tribute that has strong emotional content that impacts the visitors and sends a clear message.

However, the architect forgot the importance of considering the location in order to properly

memorialize this tragic event, and it is clear that Miami Beach is not an appropriate place for this

kind of art. Apart from that, the audience of this memorial is just a spectator of the facts, since

the memorial does not offer spaces to open questions about what happened, and it does not call

for an instance of reflection. Indeed, it is necessary to generate and not only to torment.
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References

Alderman, D. H., & Dwyer, O. J. (2009). Memorials and monuments. International

encyclopedia of human geography, 7, 51-58.

Svendsen, E. S., & Campbell, L. K. (2010). Living memorials: Understanding the

social meanings of community-based memorials to September 11, 2001.

Environment and Behavior, 42(3), 318-334.

Erika Doss, Remembering 9/11: Memorials and Cultural Memory, OAH Magazine of History,

Volume 25, Issue 3, July 2011, Pages 27–30, https://doi.org/10.1093/oahmag/oar018

Krieger, R. (2021, November 5). Introduction to the Holocaust. Holocaust Encyclopedia.

Retrieved November 20, 2021, from

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/introduction-to-the-holocaust

Nevins, B. (1990, February 3). Solemn Sight Miami Beach Sculpture Honors Holocaust Victims.

South Florida Sun-Sentinel. https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1990-02-03-

9001220570-story.html

Resnick, A. (2018, May 17). History of the Holocaust Memorial. Holocaust Memorial in Miami

Beach. https://holocaustmemorialmiamibeach.org/about/history

Wechsler, W. (2015). Memoria del Holocausto en Miami Beach. Cuadernos Judaicos, (32), 273-

301.