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Tree of Life Synagogue Unveils Preliminary Design of New Memorial Honoring Victims of 2018 Shooting
by Shiryn Ghermezian
A man pauses at a memorial for the 11 victims shot by a neo-Nazi at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue. Photo: Reuters/Cathal McNaughton
Organizers have unveiled the first design for a new outdoor memorial at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh that will pay tribute to the 11 people killed in the antisemitic mass shooting at the Jewish center in 2018.
The “10/27 Memorial” is being designed in collaboration with a group of the victims’ family members, communal leaders, and congregational representatives. The design includes a walkway leading visitors into a garden memorial with 11 sculpted forms of open books, each representing one of the victims killed in the attack. The books represent the “Book of Life.”
“To be inscribed in the Book of Life is to be inscribed in eternity, to be inscribed in memory,” architect Daniel Libeskind said of the memorial. “It’s not a cemetery. It has to be an affirmation of life.”
Libeskind developed the preliminary design for the memorial in partnership with the Memorialization Working Group. He also serves as the lead architect for rebuilding the Tree of Life synagogue following the attack.
“Creating a meaningful memorial is a highly emotional and personal process, while at the same time, it must communicate to a broader audience,” Libeskind explained. “For the 10/27 Memorial, we worked closely with the families and the congregations throughout the design process. It was through this collaboration that we created a memorial that celebrates those we lost and brings the families and the community together in healing.”
Eleven Jewish worshipers were murdered and six others were injured in the shooting on Oct. 27, 2018, during Shabbat morning services at the Tree of Life synagogue, in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The massacre is considered the deadliest antisemitic attack in United States history, and the perpetrator, 46-year-old truck driver Robert Gregory Bowers, was arrested at the scene and charged with 63 federal crimes and 36 state charges. He was convicted and given the death penalty in August, but a date for his execution has not been scheduled.
“The journey to unveiling the preliminary memorial designs has been a long and emotional one, but I am grateful for a process that prioritized our hopes that our loved ones are remembered for how they lived, not solely for how they were murdered,” said Diane Rosenthal, a member of the Memorialization Working Group whose two brothers, Cecil and David Rosenthal, were killed in the attack.
