Desert Holocaust Memorial - LetsGoSeeIt.com

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Desert Holocaust Memorial

Historical timeline of the Holocaust


	"HE WHO SAVES ONE LIFE SAVES THE WORLD" THE NAMES OF MORE THAN 12,000 "RIGHTEOUS GENTILES" ARE EMBODIED WITHIN THIS PEDESTAL "MAY THEIR DEEDS NEVER BE FORGOTTEN"

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SYSTEMATIC DEPRIVATION BY LAW OF THE
CIVIL RIGHTS, JOBS, PROPERTY AND LIFE OF "NON-ARYANS"
BY THE NAZI PARTY.

MARCH 1933	THE REICH JUDICIARY FIRES ALL JEWISH JUDGES AND STATE ATTORNEYS. THEY ARE FORBIDDEN TO ENTER THE COURTROOMS.

FEBRUARY 1934	NEW LAWS EXCLUDE JEWS FROM JOBS, SCHOOLS, LIBRARIES, ENTERTAINMENT, FARMING AND PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION.

MARCH 1934	ESTABLISHMENT OF FIRST CONCENTRATION CAMP IN NAZI GERMANY DACHOU.

SEPTEMBER 1935	NURENBERG LAWS ON "CITIZENSHIP RACE" TOOK THE RIGHT OF CITIZENSHIP FROM ALL JEWS.

OCTOBER 1936	CONVERTED JEWS WHO BECAME CHRISTIANS WERE PERSECUTED LIKE ALL OTHER JEWS.

JUNE 1937	REICH POSTAL MINISTRY FIRES ALL POSTAL WORKERS WHOSE SPOUSES ARE NOT PURELY ARYAN.

JULY 1937	BUCHENWALD CONCENTRATION CAMP OPENS.

OCTOBER 1938	OVER 17,000 JEWISH POLISH CITIZENS EXPELLED FROM GERMANY TO ZBASZYN.

NOVEMBER 1938	"KRISTALL NACHT" ANTI-JEWISH RIOTS IN GERMANY AND AUSTRIA. 300,000 JEWS ARRESTED, 191 SYNAGOGUES DESTROYED, 7,500 SHOPS AND STORES LOOTED.

DECEMBER 1938	REICH ECONOMIC MINISTRY FREEZES ALL JEWISH PROPERTY AND ASSETS.

AUGUST 1939	AFTER POLAND IS CONQUERED 3,000,000 JEWS WERE PUT IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS TO STARVE OR PERISH AS SLAVE LABORERS.

SEPTEMBER 1939	POLICE IMPOSE AN 8 P.M. CURFEW ON JEWS.

JULY 1940	REICH POSTAL MINISTRY REFUSES TELEPHONE SERVICES TO JEWS.

AUGUST 1941	THE S.S. INSTALLS CREMATORIUMS IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS AND GAS CHAMBERS IN 6 DEATH CAMP, MASS KILLINGS BEGIN.

SEPTEMBER 1941	ALL JEWS OLDER THAN 6 YEARS OF AGE ARE FORBIDDEN TO APPEAR IN PUBLIC WITHOUT WEARING THE "JEWISH STAR".

OCTOBER 1941	THE CHIEF OF POLICE ORDERS THE DEPORTATION OF 50,000 JEWS FROM GERMANY, AUSTRIA AND BOHEMIA TO GHETTOS IN THE OCCUPIED EAST (RIGA, LODZ, KOVNO AND MINSK).

SEPTEMBER 1942	LARGE SCALE OF "EXPERIMENTATION" BEGAN IN THE DEATH CAMPS.

NOVEMBER 1942	S.S. CHIEF HIMMLER ORDERS THAT ALL JEWS IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS IN GERMANY PROPER MUST BE TRANSFERRED TO CAMPS OF AUSCHWITZ AND MAYDENEK IN OCCUPIED POLAND.

FEBRUARY 1945	THE REICH EDUCATION MINISTRY ORDERS THE DESTRUCTION OF FILES RECORDING ANTI-JEWISH ACTIVITIES OF NAZI STATE.

APRIL 1945	THE DEFEAT OF NAZI GERMANY.

PERISHED IN THE HOLOCAUST
11 MILLION INNOCENT MEN, WOMEN & CHILDREN OF ALL FAITHS MURDERED
6 MILLION ONLY BECAUSE THEY WERE JEWS.

Centerpiece Sculpture of the Memorial

"CENTER OF THE MEMORIAL"

AT THE HEART OF THE MEMORIAL THERE ARE FIVE BRONZE FIGURES REPRESENTING THE PEOPLE AND DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF THE HOLOCAUST MOUNTED ON A DOUBLE TIERED STAR OF DAVID.

"BOY FROM THE GHETTO"

IN A STATE OF DESPAIR AFTER BEING SEPARATED FROM HIS PARENTS AND FORCED TO THE TRANSPORTATION AND TAKEN TO AUSCHWITZ.

"MOTHER WITH CHILDREN"

BEGGING FOR HER CHILDREN'S LIVES AS AN SS SOLDIER'S FINGER SQUEEZES THE TRIGGER OF HIS RIFLE BECAUSE SHE WOULD NOT LET GO OF HER CHILDREN.

"A RABBI"

PRAYING OVER DEAD BODIES AS SS SOLDIERS RIDICULE HIM. HE DID NOT SURVIVE.

"THE DYING MAN"

ALONE, SILENT, DYING, HIS DEATH REPRESENTS THE REALITY OF BIGOTRY, IGNORANCE AND HATRED THAT HAS TAKEN HIM TO ITS INEVITABLE END.
HE REPRESENTS THE 11,000,000 PEOPLE WHO DIED IN THE HOLOCAUST, JEWS, CHRISTIANS, GYPSIES, MENTALLY ILL, PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED, HOMOSEXUAL AND MANY OTHERS, THAT WERE KILLED IN THE NAME OF NAZISM AND THE SICKNESS IT STOOD FOR.

"THE DEFIANT MAN"

THE ACCUSING MAN! HE STANDS TALL, HE SURVIVED THE MONSTROSITY OF MANY CONCENTRATION CAMPS. HE WEARS THE NUMBER "A-17874" TATTOOED ON HIS LEFT ARM IN AUSCHWITZ DEATH CAMP. HE IS TO TEACH, TESTIFY AND TO REMIND THE WORLD

"NEVER AGAIN"

Bronze relief plaques depicting the Holocaust


	LIBERATION
	"THE THINGS I SAW BEGGAR DESCRIPTION"
	"I MADE THE VISIT DELIBERATELY, IN ORDER TO BE IN A POSITION TO GIVE FIRSTHAND EVIDENCE OF THESE THINGS, THE VISUAL EVIDENCE AND THE VERBAL TESTIMONY OF STARVATION, CRUELTY AND BESTIALITY WERE SO OVERPOWERING AS TO LEAVE ME A BIT SICK"
	GEN. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER SUPREME COMMANDER, ALLIED FORCES IN EUROPE.


	DEATH MARCHES
	DURING THE WINTER OF 1944-45 THERE WERE MARCHES FROM CAMP TO CAMP AS ALLIED ARMIES APPROACHED. SOME DEATH MARCHES COVERED HUNDREDS OF MILES WITH LITTLE OR NO FOOD OR WATER. THOSE WHO PAUSED, FELL BEHIND OR STEPPED OUT OF THE LINE WERE SHOT.


	WORKING CONDITIONS
	THOSE SURVIVING SELECTIONS WERE KEPT IN THE CAMPS TO STARVE OR PERISH IN THE NAZI PLAN OF "EXTERMINATION THROUGH WORK". THE RELIEF COMES FROM A PHOTO TAKEN BY THE SS AT AUSCHWITZ IN 1942.


	CHILDREN OF THE HOLOCAUST
	1,600,000 CHILDREN PERISHED IN THE HOLOCAUST. SOME CHILDREN ESPECIALLY TWINS WERE USED FOR MEDICAL EXPERIMENTATION.


	SLEEPING QUARTERS
	IN SOME CAMPS THE WOODEN BARRACKS THAT WERE BUILT TO HOLD FORTY-EIGHT HORSES HOUSED MORE THAN EIGHT HUNDRED HUMANS. THE RELIEF COMES FROM PHOTOS FROM SACHSENHAUSEN AND BUCHENWALD.


	GAS CHAMBER
	THE MASS KILLINGS OF JEWS WITH ZYKLON B GAS BEGAN IN THE SPRING OF 1942 AT GAS CHAMBEERS IN MANY CAMPS DISGUISED AS SHOWER ROOMS. THE GAS CHAMBERS LURED HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS TO THEIR DEATHS.


	THE CREMATORIUM
	AFTER FINDING DISPOSAL OF THOUSANDS OF BODIES THROUGH OPEN FIRES INEFFICIENT, THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY WAS INCORPORATED BY THE SS AS THEY INSTALLED CREMATORIUMS IN MANY EXISTING CONCENTRATION CAMPS.


	THE SELECTION
	THE RELIEF SHOWS A LINE OF NEWLY ARRIVED TRANSPORT OF MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN AS DR. MENGELE (THE ANGEL OF DEATH) SELECTS WHO SHALL LIVE AND WHO SHALL DIE.


	THE TRANSPORTATION
	JEWISH COMMUNITIES UNAWARE OF THEIR FATE WERE TAKEN FROM THE GHETTOS BY THE NAZIS AND TRANSPORTED IN BOXCARS WITHOUT SANITATION AND LITTLE FOOD, WATER OR VENTILATION. THE RELIEF SHOWS A TRAIN UNLOADING AT AUSCHWITZ.


	MASS EXECUTION
	THE RELIEF SHOWS AN EXECUTION THAT TOOK PLACE IN SUCH LOCATIONS AS BABIYAR, RUDKI, AND OTHER PLACES. THERE WERE OPEN AIR SHOOTINGS WHERE THOUSANDS WERE SHOT DOWN INTO LONG TRENCHES SOME WERE BURIED ALIVE.


	WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING
	"LET US NOT GO TO SLAUGHTER LIKE SHEEP!" IT IS TRUE THAT WE ARE WEAK AND WE HAVE NOBODY TO HELP US. BUT OUR ONLY DIGNIFIED ANSWER TO THE ENEMY MUST BE RESISTANCE. AFTER THE FALL OF THE GHETTO THE SURVIVING JEWS WERE EXECUTED OR TAKEN TO AUSCHWITZ.

Memorial Wall

THE REVEREND MARTIN NEIMOELLER, A PASTOR IN THE
GERMAN CONFESSING CHURCH, SPENT SEVEN YEARS IN A
CONCENTRATION CAMP. HE WROTE THESE WORDS:

FIRST THEY CAME FOR THE COMMUNISTS,
AND I DID NOT SPEAK OUT --
BECAUSE I WAS NOT A COMMUNIST.
THEN THEY CAME FOR THE SOCIALISTS,
AND I DID NOT SPEAK OUT --
BECAUSE I WAS NOT A SOCIALIST.
THEN THEY CAME FOR THE LABOR LEADERS,
AND I DID NOT SPEAK OUT --
BECAUSE I WAS NOT A LABOR LEADER.
THEN THEY CAME FOR THE JEWS,
AND I DID NOT SPEAK OUT --
BECAUSE I WAS NOT A JEW.
THEN THEY CAME FOR ME,
AND THERE WAS NO ONE LEFT
TO SPEAK OUT FOR ME.


	THE POSTS REPLICAS OF THE POSTS THAT CARRIED ELECTRIFIED BARBED-WIRE AROUND THE CAMPS SURROUND THIS SITE.


	I HAVE TOLD YOU THIS STORY NOT TO WEAKEN YOU BUT TO STRENGTHEN YOU NOW IT IS UP TO YOU. NEVER AGAIN

The Desert Holocaust Memorial is located in Civic Center Park in Palm Desert. The park is at the corner of San Pablo and Fred Waring. See map.

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