A new Holocaust memorial was unveiled in Bakersfield this past weekend.
The unveiling of the Central Valley Holocaust Memorial drew over 100 people to see the completion of a project that was over a decade in the making.
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The memorial is located at the Chabad of Bakersfield synagogue.
“The creation of this memorial was from the effort of the entire community,” Esther Schlanger, the director of Chabad of Bakersfield, told KGET. “The building and the collecting was created by many of the people here.”
There are six transparent containers filled with buttons at the memorial, with each button symbolizing a Jewish life lost during the Holocaust.
“When you see the amount of buttons that were collected it really shows the magnitude of the number six million people, individuals,” Schlanger said. “Just like the buttons that are all varied in size, shape and color those were the victims like people like you and me. They were mothers, fathers, babies, brothers and sisters.”
The memorial is open to the public on Sundays and Mondays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is free.
