Monument City » WWII

Flame at the Holocaust Memorial (Baltimore, MD)

admin — Sat, 23 May 2009 13:09:16 +0000

Location

E Lombard Street & S Gay Street (Street View)

GPS: 39° 17′ 16.74″ N 76° 36′ 30.01″ W

History

One of the more ominous spots in the city, the Holocaust Memorial sits just a few blocks north of the Aquarium and takes up an entire city block. In the 1970s a ninth grade Baltimore Hebrew class told their teacher, Alvin Fisher, they didn’t believe the Holocaust occurred. Mr. Fisher promptly took a proposal for a memorial to Charm City’s Jewish Counsel, hoping to erase the unfortunate misconception. They granted his wish and the site was chosen, an area downtown owned by the Baltimore City Community College. The memorial consists of a monolith formed to resemble a train with a steel gate symbolizing the internment of Jews in concentration camps. On the ground leading up to the large structure is a series of railroad tracks, tall grass growing from between the rails. At the southern end of the park a statue was erected, in 1988, that has since become the center-piece of the memorial. Two Baltimore businessmen and philanthropists, Melvin Berger and Jack Luskin, donated funds for the monumental flame. Dedicated in memory of the Night of Broken Glass, the 1938 destruction of Jewish homes, communities and synagogues by the Nazis, the sculpture is the creation of artist Joseph Sheppard and displays the bodies of victims engulfed in fire. Sheppard also sculpted the Pope John Paul II statue near the Basilica of the Assumption.

Notes

Baltimore’s Holocaust Memorial has seen many changes over the years. It was constructed in 1980 at a cost of $300,000 and consisted of a grassy mound and two 80 foot blocks of concrete. The stark scene became a haven for the city’s homeless and a plan to re-design the area was presented in 1995. Architect Jonathan Fishman was commissioned to create the empty rail yard that exists today. A plaque, it’s inscription written by author Deborah Lipstadt, was dedicated in 1997 upon completion of the project. Several Holocaust survivors attended the ceremony.

Nearby

Links

Memorial Stadium Urn at Camden Yards

admin — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:24:34 +0000

View Larger Map

Location

S Eutaw Street & W Lee Street (Street View)

GPS: 39° 16′ 55.96″ N 76° 37′ 14.29″ W

History

Memorial Stadium was completed in 1950. The outdoor professional sports arena was a renovation of the old Baltimore (or Municipal) Stadium that was built, in 1922, on 33rd Street in Waverly. The north Baltimore site was primarily the home of the city’s football clubs until 1944 when Orioles Park, an all wood framed structure nearby that housed the baseball team, burned to the ground completely, prompting the Orioles to move into the facility up the street. The larger stadium interested Major League Baseball, with it’s capacity for crowds in excess of 20,000, helping Baltimore finally receive a full charter franchise. Six years later the re-construction was complete and the new park was officially opened as the home of the Orioles and the National Football league’s Colts. In 1976, after the conclusion of a Colts-Steelers football game a single engine plane crashed into the upper deck. The pilot was apparently buzzing the stadium, but his approach was too low. No one was hurt in the incident.

The front facade of the stadium was a memorial to the Veterans of both World Wars. Dedicated in 1954, the edifice was nearly saved during the razing of the structure, but was finally taken down in 2002. The resulting materials from the demolition were used to create an artificial reef in the Chesapeake Bay. The military veterans memorial was moved to the southern side of Oriole Park at Camden Yards. It consists of an urn on pedestal and a large sloped wall displaying the message once inscribed on the old memorial. The urn contains soil from military cemeteries around the world. The monument was rededicated on March 31, 2003, as part of the Orioles opening day ceremonies.

Notes

The old ballpark’s home in Waverly is now the site of Stadium Place, a complex containing multiple apartment buildings for seniors and the states largest YMCA. A memorial Bell Tower has been erected, along with an Egyptian-style pergola, just slightly west of the stadium’s original front gates.

Nearby

Links

Memorial Stadium on Wikipedia
On Panoramio & Flickr

Katyn Memorial (Baltimore, MD)

admin — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 05:29:23 +0000

View Larger Map

Location

Roundabout at Aliceanna Street and S President Street (Street View)

GPS: 39° 16′ 59.37″ N 76° 36′ 6.05″ W

History

One of two Holocaust memorials in Baltimore, this one was dedicated on November 19, 2000. It commemorates the 22,000 estimated Polish military officers, police, intellectuals and civilian prisoners of war executed by the NKVD, Stalin’s secret police at the Katyn forest and other Soviet detainment camps in 1940. The Soviet government officially denied the massacre ever took place until 1990. The monument also depicts significant figures from other points in Polish history, re-conceptualizing the destructive flame as the transformation and renewal of a people. Artist: Andrzei Pitynski.

Notes

This monument stands a majestic fourty-four feet tall at a geographic hub connecting the Inner Harbor, the commercial and residential revitalization projects at Harbor East and Fells Point. Construction is on-going in the area. The old President Street Station was once nearby (later turned into the Civil War Museum – now run by the Maryland Historical Society), connecting passengers on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O) to the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad (PW&B).

Nearby

Links

National Katyn Memorial Foundation
Katyn Remembrance in Baltimore, MD
They Shall Not Be Forgotten: Remembering the Victims of Katyn
Remembering Katyn from the Hoover Institute
On Panoramio & Flickr