Calgary Holocaust Memorial Site will be upgraded this year

by Maxine Fischbein

(AJNews) – We are what we remember.

Thanks to the vision and generosity of local supporters, Jewish Calgary will soon receive a gift that will enhance remembrance of individuals and families murdered during the Shoah, honour local Holocaust survivors, and provide ample and beautiful spaces designed to enhance quiet contemplation, community engagement, and education.

Shortly after Yom HaShoah, which took place this year on April 23, visitors to the JCC will notice work commencing at the existing Holocaust memorial site on the west side of the building as Phase I of the Calgary Holocaust Memorial Upgrade begins.

For the past five years, Ron and Barb Krell have contemplated ways that the current memorial site might be enhanced and revitalized. Roots from surrounding poplar trees had caused heaving that disturbed the site and caused the ground itself to be increasingly dangerous, especially for members of the community with mobility issues, the Krells told AJNews.

The poplars and some bushes have already been removed in preparation for Phase I of the project, commencing May 1, which will incorporate imaginative landscaping and hardscaping so as to create more conducive spaces for Yom HaShoah commemorations and school visits.

Gone will be the chain-link fence that currently surrounds the memorial.

“The idea is that people will be able to come closer and congregate,” says Ron Krell. “Right now it is hard to get close to the memorial. During Yom HaShoah, most people end up in the JCC parking lot, which feels impersonal and a little too far away.”

“We need a more reflective space in which we can really honour the memories and all that they signify,” says Barb Krell.

The current memorial wall includes names, originally provided by Calgary-based survivors and descendants, of loved ones who perished at the hands of the Nazis and their collaborators.

“Over the years, we have been approached by community members who want to add loved ones to the memorial wall. We will now be able to honour these and additional requests while also acknowledging those whose names are unknown,” said Marnie Bondar, who co-chairs the Holocaust and Human Rights: Remembrance and Education department of Calgary Jewish Federation together with Dahlia Libin.

Phase II of the project will see the erection of a second installation which will— for the first time ever—pay tribute to Calgary-connected Holocaust survivors, including those who settled here, helping to build and sustain the local Jewish community.  Some gave an incredible gift to succeeding generations by sharing their painful personal testimonies with students and other civic groups, thus helping to mitigate racism, antisemitism and xenophobia while inculcating good citizenship and the upholding of democratic ideals.

“Sadly, most of our local survivors have now passed away. We want to memorialize them while honouring those who continue to inspire us today,” said Dahlia Libin.

Organizers hope to complete Phase I of the project by the end of the summer with a rededication ceremony tentatively set for Sunday, September 28, 2025.

The Sunday between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is the traditional time when community members visit cemeteries to honour the memories of loved ones at Kever Avot services conducted by local Rabbis. Those services typically happen early in the day, allowing for a dedication and ceremony at the upgraded Calgary Holocaust Memorial Park later the same day (watch for details in future issues of AJNews and on the Calgary Jewish Federation website, www.jewishcalgary.org).

Professionals who will bring the Calgary Holocaust Memorial Upgrade Project to fruition include award-winning designer and Certified Landscape Designer Katherine Kinch, founder of Your Space by Design; project manager Tony Sunderland; Contractor Ryan Menzies, of Alpine Construction and Design Ltd; and Lorne Tucker, of Somerville Memorials.

The project has the support of both the JCC and the Calgary Jewish Federation, thanks to efforts by CJF President Lisa Libin and former CEO Adam Silver.

The emotionally compelling bronze sculpture Ashes to Life, by renowned artist Roy Leadbeater will remain at the heart of the newly imagined Holocaust Memorial. Both the Memorial and the sculpture— which attests to the fact that the spirit of the Jewish people can never be extinguished— were donated to the Jewish community of Calgary in 1986 by William (Bill) Schwartz and Alyse Schwartz, each of blessed memory,  in memory of their parents Louis and Regina Schwartz and Isaac and Celia Schwartzpelz.

Dedicated on November 2, 1986, the Memorial site—where this community’s annual Yom HaShoah commemorations have been held for nearly 40 years— has been re-envisioned as an ideal location to bring Calgary and area students for Holocaust education and reflection say Bondar and Libin, each of whom is the granddaughter of four Holocaust survivors.

The symbolic elements of the Ashes to Life statue provide jumping-off points for discussions about the Shoah that engage students from the get-go,” says Marnie Bondar.  “The entire memorial space, from the colours of the stones on which students will sit to the materials used on the ground, have been carefully considered so as to recall Europe, reinforce the solemnity of the Holocaust, and allow for emotional connections that encourage active rather than passive learning,” Bondar said.

Segregated spaces for reflection and learning will underscore the sacredness of the space, which will include 18 stone “Pillars of Learning” including the names of some of the European cities, towns and shtetls where victims of the Shoah and local survivors lived, allowing for additional learning opportunities.

Formalized pathways and beautiful plantings will round out the reimagined space which will be brought into harmony with other spaces within the JCC footprint including the JCC daycare, which will get a new barrier wall.

While Holocaust education often takes place within the walls of schools and other civic institutions, there are obvious benefits to inviting non-Jewish junior high and high school students into the heart of the Jewish community.

“Bringing students to the JCC will help them to see that the Jewish people survived and thrived,” said Libin. “They will find themselves in the heart of a living and vibrant community.”

Spearheading the fundraising for the enhanced and expanded memorial site has proven a full-circle journey for Ron and Barb Krell, who were the driving force behind the establishment of this community’s annual Holocaust Education Symposium in 1984. Ron is a second-generation survivor. Like his parents, of blessed memory, his brother Dr. Robert Krell—co-founder of the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre—is a Holocaust survivor.

The costs associated with Phase I of the project have been generously underwritten by Ron and Barb Krell and family, Harvey Cyngiser and family, Frances Cyngiser and family, and the Legacy Fund.

A very important aspect of the project, say the Krells, is the establishment of an endowment fund that will ensure perpetual care of the memorial site, including landscape maintenance, lighting, cleaning, repairs, and additions to the memorial walls. Community members are encouraged to support the endowment fund, which, like the flow-through fund earmarked for the construction and beautification at the memorial site, is managed by the Jewish Community Foundation of Calgary.

The significance of Holocaust memorials and monuments has long been studied as have been the links between commemorating and remembering communities. As communities evolve, it is important to ensure that each memorial continues to be utilized in a way that speaks to the hearts and minds of new generations.

Jewish Calgary’s revitalized memorial “will allow for…self-directed and facilitator-led learning,” according to organizers of the project. “Education will include exploratory, research-based and project-based education with debriefing materials to be sent back to classrooms with their teachers.”

A dearth of seating at the original Holocaust Memorial site has—until now—limited the number of students that could be comfortably accommodated for on-site study.  The new design includes two semi-circular flat-topped boulders that can seat up to 75 students.

Marnie Bondar and Dahlia Libin—who are responsible for ensuring that the design plans maximize the educational potential of the project—take much inspiration in the words of renowned author Aharon Appelfeld, himself a Holocaust survivor:

“After the death of the last witnesses the memory of the Holocaust must not be left to historians alone, now is the time for works of art.”

Those wishing to support perpetual care of the Calgary Holocaust Memorial can direct donations to the Calgary Holocaust Memorial Maintenance Endowment Fund (managed by the Jewish Community Foundation of Calgary (JCFC). Contact Foundation Manager Brenda Sapoznikow at 403-640-2273 or mail@jcfc.ca.

Holocaust survivors and their loved ones will soon have the opportunity to become involved in the Phase II Holocaust Survivor/Memorial Wall Tribute Project. For more information about supporting this initiative and adding names to it, contact Marnie Bondar and Dahlia Libin at holocaustedu@jewishcalgary.org.

For more information about additional philanthropic opportunities in support of Holocaust remembrance and education, contact Ron Krell at krells@shaw.ca.

Maxine Fischbein is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter.