The Dish actually got down and dirty on Sunday, at a group activity on Whalley Avenue at the New Haven Holocaust Memorial. The memorial, on the corner of West Park Avenue, in Edgewood Park, was built 30 years ago; it is the first such structure in the nation to be erected on public land and part of the proud legacy of Mayor Frank Logue. It is a tribute to the six million Jewish victims of the Nazi genocide.
Time and elements have taken a toll on this significant structure and the surrounding plaza. With the goal of restoration and perpetual maintenance, Doris Zelinsky is leading the efforts with a new non-profit, The Greater New Haven Holocaust Memory. Her committee members are Holocaust survivors and family members, former Mayors Logue and John Daniels, educators, architects, artist and others who are devoted to preservation of this legacy and the volumes it speaks about New Haven as a community.
Members of yesterday’s “down and dirty” crew included: Leah and Ari Caroline and their children, Eric Epstein, Alex Epstein, Eliana Falk, Lindy Lee Gold, Chris Ozyck and his children, Fay Sheppard, Steven Zalesch and Doris Zelinsky.
There will be a public Oral History Presentation on Sunday, April 26, at the Slifka Center. A Yale history major, Michael Brown, has compiled the memories of community members and worked with Andy Horowitz, director of the New Haven Oral History Project at Yale. Many of the contributors are now octogenarians; it was essential to capture their input. Photographer David Ottenstein contributed his expertise to the effort.
Who ever thought of getting down and dirty for the Greater Good had the right idea!