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Should Holocaust Memorial Park Commemorate Non-Jews?
By
Billy Parker
Published Jun 8, 2009
Modified Jun 10, 2009
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By
Billy Parker
Published Jun 8, 2009
Modified Jun 10, 2009
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A group of politicians and activists gathered at the city-owned Holocaust Memorial Park in Sheepshead Bay to protest the Parks Department's plans to make additions to the memorial to more prominently commemorate other groups killed under the Nazi regime on top of the Jewish victims currently being honored there now.
Barry Lituchy, vice president of the park's Holocaust Memorial Committee, says that there was an earlier understanding that the park—which was dedicated by former Mayor Ed Koch in 1985—would solely honor Jews.. Now the Parks Department has signed off on a plan to add five granite markers to recognize the 5 million Holocuast victims that included other groups the Nazis targeted such as homosexuals, the disabled, Jehovah's Witnesses and even Gypsies. Currently there are 234 granite markers that commemorate the 6 million Jews who were killed.
Liutchy called those pushing to make the changes as "nameless, faceless bureaucrats" who are attempting to "curry political favor" with the additions. He and the other protesters were calling on Mayor Bloomberg to block the plan. Bloomberg had no comment on the issue.
Assemblyman Dov Hikind, whose mother is a survivor of Auschwitz, spoke the strongest words in favor preserving the memorial in its current state. He said, "These people are not in the same category as Jewish people with regards to the Holocaust. It is so vastly different. You cannot compare political prisoners with Jewish victims...The Holocaust is a uniquely Jewish event." Hikind believes that if there is a memorial for the other victims, it should be at a different site.
The Advocate says that Hikind "has long been an outspoken opponent of gay rights" and "has equated the state's marriage equality bill with allowing incest."
Theresa Scavo, president of Community Board 15, who lobbied for the additional recognition, said, "The Holocaust memorial means you memorialize anyone who died in the Holocaust." A spokesperson for the Parks Department said that the decision to create the additional markers came from a desire "to reinforce its educational purpose to remind us of the historical circumstances of the Holocaust."
Tagged
barry liutchy
community board 15
dov hikind
gay marriage legislation
Holocaust
holocaust memorial park
mayor bloomberg
parks department
sheepshead bay
theresa savo
Billy Parker
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