Women of the Shoah

Women of the Shoah – Jewish Placemaking

combines art as social practice to allow our communities to reflect upon, honor and learn from the plight of the women and children who perished in the Holocaust (Shoah).

The WSJP organizes and catalyzes the community, business leaders and holocaust survivors and their families to build a monument and create special public space, to educate and transform the viewers’ perspective on the Holocaust, antisemitism, racism and all genocide of women and children.

What We Do

Work with Holocaust survivors, community leaders and corporations to build public memorials that will honor the women and children who died in the Holocaust

Create public art that requires social engagement and the participation of diverse communities for its completion

Use art to transform the viewers’ perspective on antisemitism, racism and all genocide of women and children

Recognize the timely need to memorialize the history of the holocaust for the next generation

Play a leadership role in interactive education that uses the arts and Jewish place-making in Holocaust Education

Holocaust Education

It is important that the history of the Holocaust is taught, experienced, and remembered for generations who will not be able to meet survivors first-hand, and our initiative may be used to support compliance with North Carolina’s Federal and State Holocaust Education Acts. The actual photo of the murder of these women was used as the basis of the sculpture. The Monument will include a camera aimed at the women, enabling the public to peer through it as the Nazi photographer did as a form of “execution tourism,” however, now we can defy evil and death by becoming witnesses to the atrocity of antisemitism, and showing that we all have a way to stand up and resist that which is insufferable, intolerable and inhumane.

For information on Jewish placemaking and Holocaust Education Workshops built around the Liepāja Massacre and North Carolina’s First Women’s Monument contact Elizabeth Alberti at 631-897-8300 or e-mail her info@womenoftheshoahjp.org.

The Story of our First Monument

Is This For Us?

Would your community welcome a monument to women and children victims of genocide? Contact us to bring Jewish placemaking and Holocaust education to your community.

News & Events

Women of the Shoah Blog

Monument maquette

16-inch in-process maquette (study) of what will be in bronze

She Wouldn't Take Off Her Boots

“She Wouldn’t Take Off Her Boots”

In Honor of Brave Mothers EVA WEINER and SOFIA GURAKNIK

Building upon the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and the end of the Holocaust, “She Wouldn’t Take Off Her Boots” will be North Carolina’s First Women’s Holocaust Monument. This original sculpture by artist Victoria Milstein will honor the strength and resilience of all women. It will be beautifully situated in Greensboro’s LeBauer Park, becoming a “place-making” community experience for all. A portion of the Monument will be made from EConcrete, an Israeli based technology, that serves to tie the Holocaust to the land of Israel.

Arm in Arm

COLLABORATIVE WEBINAR

In Liepāja, Latvia, on December 15, 1941, thousands of Jewish women and children were taken to the women’s prison where they were forced to strip to their underclothes and shot dead in groups of 10. Many of the victims were photographed in their final moments by a Nazi photographer. One such photograph serves as the basis for our first Monument, “She Wouldn’t Take Off Her Boots”.

Join us for a social justice practice memorial of the Liepāja Massacre.
Liepāja Massacre

Photo of Jews at the Liepāja massacre. On December 15-17, 1941, Nazis apprehended 2,750 victims in Liepāja. After a selection process they brought the victims to the dunes of the fishing village of Šķēde, north of Liepāja where the women and children were systematically murdered.

Monument maquette
She Wouldn't Take Off Her Boots

16-inch maquettes (studies) of what will be in bronze

“She Wouldn’t Take Off Her Boots”

In Honor of Brave Mothers EVA WEINER and SOFIA GURAKNIK

Building upon the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and the end of the Holocaust, “She Wouldn’t Take Off Her Boots” will be North Carolina’s First Women’s Holocaust Monument. This original sculpture by artist Victoria Milstein will honor the strength and resilience of all women. It will be beautifully situated in Greensboro’s LeBauer Park, becoming a “place-making” community experience for all. A portion of the Monument will be made from EConcrete, an Israeli based technology, that serves to tie the Holocaust to the land of Israel.

Liepāja Massacre

Photo of Jews at the Liepāja massacre. On December 15-17, 1941, Nazis apprehended 2,750 victims in Liepāja. After a selection process they brought the victims to the dunes of the fishing village of Šķēde, north of Liepāja where the women and children were systematically murdered.

Arm in Arm

COLLABORATIVE WEBINAR

In Liepāja, Latvia, on December 15, 1941, thousands of Jewish women and children were taken to the women’s prison where they were forced to strip to their underclothes and shot dead in groups of 10. Many of the victims were photographed in their final moments by a Nazi photographer. One such photograph serves as the basis for our first Monument, “She Wouldn’t Take Off Her Boots”.

 
Join us for a social justice practice memorial of the Liepāja Massacre.

Letters of Support

We have tremendous community support from state, federal and community leadership.

Gail and Gene LeBauer

Gail and Gene LeBauer

To create a Holocaust Memorial in this beautiful garden space would powerfully add to the importance of the celebration of Carolyn’s life and commitments; her indomitable spirit would be so aptly represented by these women who stood up in the only way they had available – and the woman who refused to take off her boots shows that we each can have a way to stand up and resist that which is insufferable, intolerable and inhumane. It truly speaks volumes for the power of human resistance to forces of evil and injustice and helps us all understand that each of us has the power to fund our voice in actions and deeds.

Elan S Carr

United States Special Envoy
to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism

Thank you so much for sharing this deeply moving project with us.  I’m surprised to say that I had never before seen that particular photograph which serves as the model for the monument. Thank you so much for this effort!

NC Council on the Holocaust

Michael Abramson

I believe the Holocaust Monument, “She Wouldn’t Take Off Her Boots” is critical to further racial and ethnic understanding in North Carolina. I feel the monument will prompt North Carolinians to study the impact of bigotry and intolerance on society similar to the Woolworth’s lunch counter at the International Civil Rights Center & Museum.

The Holocaust occurred because good people did not take action against hate. This monument will prompt individuals to consider how their behavior affects others and will motivate individuals to work together with the goal to eliminate the negative misconceptions we have of each other…

The monument will serve as a focal point where individuals and classes can initiate frank and honest dialogue about pluralism, tolerance and acceptance. A key lesson of the Holocaust is that hate will thrive when ignorance and indifference exist in a community.

 

International Civil Rights Center & Museum

John L. Swaine, CEO

…Greensboro has a widely respected reputation as a place with a long history of social justice activities on behalf of recognizing the dignity of every human being. It is the most fitting place that I can imagine for expanding the civil and human rights dialog that might be focused on such a powerful monument. The opportunity for a prominent placement of the sensitively conceived sculpture adds to the potentially enlightening character of internationally recognized conversations, enriched with reminders of Greensboro’s lesson to the rest of the world and its status as a “Civil Rights City.”

Temple Emanuel

Rabbi Fred Gutman

I have been a Holocaust history educator for more than 40 years and have seen countless Holocaust Memorials throughout the world, from North America to Europe to Israel… It is not an exaggeration, in my opinion, to say that Victoria Milstein’s proposed monument, “She Wouldn’t Take Off Her Boots” will take its place among the most important Holocaust Memorials in the world…

The monument is an example of what is called “spiritual resistance.” It shows the indomitable spirit of these women in the face of incomprehensible evil.

 

NC General Assembly

Rep Jon Hardister, District 59
Rep Ashton Clemmons, District 57

Together, we the undersigned, write to you in full support of the creation of the Women’s Holocaust Memorial “She Wouldn’t Take Off Her Boots” to serve as the first Holocaust monument located in North Carolina. It would be an honor and represent women for the strength and resilience in the face of uncertainty. In would be an honor for Greensboro, a city known for its historic role in the first against social injustice, to call the sculpture home. What a privledge it would be, for the Women’s Holocaust Memorial to be situated in one of Greensboro’s downtown parks.

Who We Are

Meet our team

Shelly Weiner

Holocaust Survivor, Chair Holocaust Education

Sue Simmons

Founder/Board President, Development Professional, Community Volunteer

Elizabeth Alberti

Founder/Executive Director, Advancement Professional, Jewish Educator

Join a Committee

David M. Crowe, PhD

Holocaust Scholar/Co-Chair Holocaust Education, Presidential Fellow at Chapman University, Professor Emeritus of History & Law at Elon University

Victoria Carlin Milstein

Founder & Monument Artist, Painter, Teacher, Social Practice Artist

Marilyn Forman Chandler

Chair of Community Outreach, Executive Director of the Greensboro Jewish Federation

Get Involved

Call 631-897-8300 or Contact Us to get involved

Donate

Want to support the Monument or our mission of Holocaust education? Your donation is tax deductible. This link will take you to the Community Foundation of Greensboro’s website to make a secure donation to Women of the Shoah – Jewish Placemaking.

Events

We will be hosting Holocaust education webinars and workshops to engage audiences on the subject of the Holocaust and genocide of women and children. Find out what is coming up next.

Volunteer

Join a committee to help spread our mission of Holocaust education and Jewish placemaking.

Contact Us

Thank you for your interest in Women of the Shoah – Jewish Placemaking. Use this form to inquire about how you can get involved or to ask a question.

Address

517 S Elm St.
Greensboro, NC 27406

Call Us

631-897-8300

Support