In the words of Jewish scholar and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Elie Wiesel, this memorial commemorates “an era of incommensurate darkness” through the symbolism of six luminous towers, each representing a main Nazi concentration camp. Inscribed in the glass towers are numbers from 0,000,001 to 6,000,000, which evoke the infamous practice of tattooing serial numbers on camp detainees, approximately six million of whom perished. Under each tower is a six-foot deep chamber, covered by a grate, which visitors cross over as they pass through the towers. A time capsule is buried at one end of the memorial, containing names of individuals who perished in the Holocaust. Plans to create the memorial began with a group of Holocaust survivors living in the Boston area. More than 3,000 organizations and individuals
were involved in the effort.