Week 10: Memorial

I've walked past and through Boston's Holocaust memorial a bunch of times, but I never stopped to photograph it. It seems like no matter what the weather is outside there is always someone standing inside the memorial or near the entrance plaque reading and thinking about what the memorial symbolizes.

"Look at these towers, passerby, and try to imagine what they really mean - what they symbolize - what they evoke. They evoke an era of incommensurate darkness, an era in history when civilization lost its humanity and humanity its soul . . ."

"We must look at these towers of memory and say to ourselves, No one should ever deprive a human being of his or her right to dignity. No one should ever deprive anyone of his or her right to be a sovereign human being. No one should ever speak again about racial superiority... We cannot give evil another chance."

- Elie Wiesel

The woman in this photo spent a long time slowly moving from one of the six 54 foot pillars to the next, reading the text on each pillar that captures the accounts of some of the survivors.

The memorial parallels the busy Congress street in Boston, and is only a short walk from Quincy market, but in spite of the commotion around it the memorial remains a very quiet place, probably because of the thoughtful reflection it inspires.