The Horwitz-Wasserman Holocaust Memorial Plaza in Philadelphia is the site of the nation’s first public monument erected to memorialize victims of the Holocaust. The Memorial Plaza includes interpretive features that help visitors to learn about, reflect upon, and remember the Holocaust.
The Memorial Plaza is home to Nathan Rapaport’s Monument to Six Million Jewish Martyrs, a towering bronze sculpture that made history as the first public monument in North America to memorialize the victims of the Holocaust.
Visitors to the Memorial Plaza will experience a dynamic civic space with interpretive features designed to encourage learning and remembrance. Visitors can also use the IWalk app to access a digital guided tour with personal testimonies of Holocaust survivors and other witnesses at specific locations within the Memorial Plaza.
Donated to the City of Philadelphia in 1964 by a group of Holocaust survivors and local Jewish leaders, the Monument to the Six Million Jewish Martyrs serves as a moving tribute to those murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust. Nathan Rapaport, himself a Holocaust sculpture, incorporated symbols of remembrance and resistance within the monument to portray both the need to remember those lost while maintaining hope for the future. The Monument to Six Million Jewish Martyrs remains the only major public monument in Philadelphia dedicated to the remembrance of the Holocaust.
The Six Pillars honor the memory of the Six Million Jews murdered by Nazi Germany and its collaborators. The pillars are presented in pairs, each chronicling an atrocity of the Holocaust and contrasting it with American constitutional protections and values.
An Eternal Flame symbolizes hope and light within the Wall of Remembrance, embodying our commitment to never forget.
Children imprisoned at the Theresienstadt Camp nurtured a sapling knowing that they would not live to see it mature, yet believing that this tree would survive. The iconic tree’s sapling will be planted at the Plaza to symbolize life and hope for future generations.
Original train tracks from the railroad adjacent to the Death Camp of Treblinka in Poland are embedded in the Plaza’s paving to remind visitors of the industrialized, mass deportation of millions of victims.
A grove of trees represents the woodlands that sheltered those who resisted the Nazi regime. It honors the legacy of those who risked their lives by fighting hatred and bigotry.
IWalk is a pioneering mobile app that guides visitors through the Horwitz-Wasserman Holocaust Memorial Plaza using personal testimonials from Holocaust survivors and witnesses. As visitors approach specific features of the Plaza, IWalk presents content specific to these features and customizes it to each visitor’s age, language preference, and learning objectives.
Prepare for your visit by downloading the USC Shoah Foundation IWalk app on your mobile device for a curated tour of the Memorial Plaza. To download IWalk, visit Apple Store or the Google Play store and search for “IWalk Shoah.” Visitors can also access IWalk through QR codes on informational placards associated with each Plaza feature.
IWalk General Audience Tour: Through first-hand accounts of survivors and witnesses to the Holocaust, IWalk’s digital tour app guides visitors through the Plaza as they reflect on the past while learning about the universal lessons of the Holocaust. The IWalk General Audience Tour takes one hour to complete.
IWalk Antisemitism Tour: Antisemitism did not end after the Holocuast, and continues to persist today. Through the firsthand testimonies of witnesses to antisemitic events both past and present aligned with Plaza features, this tour explores how to counter antisemitic language and actions. This IWalk tour takes approximately 30 minutes to complete.
IWalk Propaganda Tour: Throughout history, propaganda has been used as a tool to spread antisemitic beliefs. Propaganda was one of the main mechanisms used by the Nazis to spread the “Master Race” ideology; and, alarmingly, the use of propaganda is on the rise today. This IWalk tour pairs testimonies of survivors and witnesses to the Holocaust with contextualized information on the power and danger of propaganda. This IWalk tour takes approximately 30 minutes to complete.
IWalk offers tours customized to the educational needs of middle and high school students, complete with features enabling students to submit interactive feedback while exploring the plaza and during post-visit activities. IWalk student tours last approximately one hour.
We strongly suggest that students download the IWalk application, as well as tour content, prior to their arrival at the Plaza.
Teachers interested in receiving specialized training on integrating IWalk and Holocaust education into classroom curricula prior to bringing students to visit the Plaza should contact Eszter Kutas, Executive Director of the Philadelphia Holocaust Remembrance Foundation, at email@example.com.
The Horwitz-Wasserman Holocaust Memorial Plaza is open to the public 365 days a year and is free to visit. Our IWalk companion mobile app is also free of charge.
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