Despite the sunny surroundings, this memorial to victims of the Holocaust is sobering and thought provoking.
The Desert Holocaust Memorial remembers the horror and commemorates those who lived and died at the hands of the Nazis during the Second World War. The memorial opened in 1995 and was created by the American sculptor Dee Clements, who tells a pictorial history of the Holocaust through seven monumental figures and eleven bronze reliefs. The memorial was built thanks to donations from local citizens, including 90 Holocaust survivors who live in the Coachella Valley.
The first thing you will see when you arrive at the memorial is a ring of trees surrounding it, which represent life outside of the enclosed fence of the Nazi concentration camps. Walking past the trees, the cobbled path and replica camp-lights are meant to resemble those from the infamous death camp, Auschwitz.
At the heart of the memorial is a collection of seven large figures, representing the different types of people who suffered under the Nazis. Some figures are accusing and defiant, while others beg for mercy or look bereft. The faces of these people are based on actual photos and news footage from the time. The figures all stand on a granite Star of David, upon which is carved a map marking the locations of 19 concentration camps as well as the numbers of people who perished.
The 11 bronze relief plaques surrounding the statues tell the story of the Holocaust – the crushing on the trains, the terrible camps, the gas chambers and, finally, liberation by troops.
The Desert Holocaust Memorial is situated in Civic Center Park in Palm Desert, 24 kilometres southeast of downtown Palm Springs. The park is open every day and admission is free.
