HERC Sculpture Design Competition

A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

The Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (HERC) is sponsoring an open, two-stage competition to choose a design for a sculpture commemorating life after the Holocaust.  This sculpture will be uplifting in its celebration of life of the survivors and future generations.  The sculpture will be located at a prominent site at Harry and Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center located at 6255 N. Santa Monica Blvd in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

MISSION STATEMENT: The Holocaust is a universal and enduring historical event. The sculpture is envisioned to be a compelling visual statement at a significant public place, not a museum. To explain or depict the Holocaust is not the primary goal.

The HERC committee sees in this location an unprecedented opportunity to reach out and touch the generally impassive and silent majority, to inspire awareness among both Jewish and non-Jewish society, and to encourage deep reflection on the consequences of denying fundamental rights, human hope, and common humanity to any group or individual, particularly so when mass silence and indifference allows this to happen. The sculpture should speak to visitors of diverse races and origins.

RATIONALE: Milwaukee currently has a memorial to the murdered Jews of the Holocaust, but does not have a place that remembers the survivors of the Holocaust by celebrating life. “Pinat Hatikvah”, A Corner of Hope, will emphasize the strengths of humanity, the will to survive, the ability to help fellow human beings in the face of adversity, the capacity for compassion, understanding and peace. In creating such a place, HERC seeks to create a major fundraising project that will help sustain Holocaust education in Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin.

While there should be some reference to the Holocaust, we are envisioning the iconography of the site to be of life and hope rather than of death and despair.

Competition Facebook Page