The first rest stop along the path provides an opportunity to become acquainted with the Nashville Survivor and Refugee community. This wall recognizes the array of places and countries from which they came. These individuals are real people who had real lives before Hitler came to power. Their families were destroyed and their lives changed forever. All found their way to Nashville to become citizens, raise families and participate in the life of the community, but they will never be able to forget what happened to them. The next rest area bears a wall whose messages encourage the visitor to consider one’s personal responsibility to the determination of history and our fellow humankind. What is the responsibility of each of us to the future and each other in the face of injustice and discrimination?

As the visitor enters the main Memorial Plaza there are a number of significant areas to note.

The 10 Memorial Walls bear the names of loved ones who were the victims and intended victims of Nazi Genocide. Their names and information were placed there by their families and friends as a way to honor and remember them. For some, this Memorial is their only place of remembrance, having perished at the hands of Nazi oppression with no grave.

Under the names, there is a small ledge where personal thoughts and prayers may be placed. It is a spot where stones may be left. This is a Jewish tradition indicating that one has visited the memorial site of a loved one.

The focal point of the Plaza is the Sculpture. The book with torn and missing pages represents the destruction of two-thirds of European Jewry. Of the estimated nine million Jewish people living in Europe prior to 1933, six million were murdered in the Holocaust. Before the sculpture is a “Ner Tamid,” an eternal light. This light shines to represent a symbol of faith.

Gracing the Plaza are 18 Seats of Honor. These “Seats of Life” honor Nashville’s Survivor community. The Survivors are the eyewitnesses to the horror of the Holocaust. Instead of focusing on the atrocities that befell them, to a person, they have chosen to live a life of hope and optimism for the future. In Hebrew, the number 18 represents “Life.” The seating area is placed facing the Memorial Walls as a symbol that here in this hallowed place, those of us who visit understand that we come to honor the dead. We remember how they were brutally murdered. In their name, we promised, “Never again to Jews or anyone else.” But as we face the past, we stand before the reality of life today and recall the pledge we made in their memory. What decisions will each of us make? What is our obligation to become active participants in creating a more just world for today and the future?

On the ends of tables near the back of the Plaza, we recognize and thank our major donors for their help in creating this Memorial. Without them….this dream could not have become a reality.