Type Memorial Opening date 1983 Opened 1983 Beginning date 1983 | Material Granite boulder Address London W1J 7NT, UK Completion date 1983 | |
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Location Hyde Park, London, England Designer Mark Badger, Richard Seifert and Derek Lovejoy and Partners Dedicated to Victims of the Holocaust Similar Seven Kings Park, John F Kennedy Memorial, Valentines Mansion, The Barbican Muse, Big 4 | ||
The Holocaust Memorial in Hyde Park, London, was the first public memorial in Great Britain dedicated to victims of the Holocaust. It lies to the east of the Serpentine Lake, in The Dell, an open-air area within the park. Since its unveiling in 1983 remembrance services have taken place at the memorial every year.
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Construction and unveiling
The memorial was built in 1983, funded by the Board of Deputies of British Jews under the impetus of then president Greville Janner, a Labour Party MP. It was designed by Mark Badger, Richard Seifert and Derek Lovejoy and Partners. It was unveiling on 28 June 1983, during a service led by then-Environment Secretary Patrick Jenkin, Baron Jenkin of Roding. Attended by a crowd of 500 spectators including Sir Immanuel Jakobovits, Baron Jakobovits, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, Jenkin described the memorial as "a reminder of the past and a warning for the future." The attending guests then sang hymns and "Adon Olam", a Sabbath hymn.
The then-shadow Environment Secretary Gerald Kaufman, whose grandmother was murdered by the Nazis in Poland, also stated that "the memorial was essential because the German responsibility was partly shared by other countries."
Design
The memorial consists of two boulders lying within a gravel bed, surrounded by a copse of silver birch trees. It is inscribed in both English and Hebrew with the words "For these I weep. Streams of tears flow from my eyes because of the destruction of my people" which is a quotation from the Book of Lamentations.