Emek Sholom Holocaust Memorial

The Emek Sholom [valley of peace] Holocaust Memorial Cemetery was established on November 6, 1955. The cemetery is located within Richmond ‘s Forest Lawn Cemetery . The memorial cemetery was created by the New American Jewish Club of Richmond. Members of this group are survivors of the Nazi reign in Europe . The Holocaust Memorial is one of the first of its kind in North America . The New American Jewish Club of Richmond raised the money to erect a memorial dedicated to two hundred of their family members who died during the Holocaust and whose bodies were never recovered. Originally, there were two panels on which family members’ names were placed and a central stone. In 1999 two more flanking panels and 237 more names were added to the existing markers to honor. This was done to memorialize victims of newer Jewish Richmond-area residents.

The Virginia Department of Historic Resources recognized the Emek Sholom Holocaust Memorial Cemetery as a Virginia Historic Landmark in 1998. The U.S. Department of the Interior also entered the Memorial on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. Forest Lawn Cemetery in Richmond , Virginia is the burial site for 175 Jewish Holocaust survivors. The Emek Sholom Holocaust Memorial Cemetery is located in Section A and family members may be buried there alongside the memorial. There is an annual memorial service at the Emek Sholom Holocaust Memorial Cemetery at which the prayer for the dead (Kaddish) is recited and the names engraved on the panels are recited to honor the memories of all those who died in the Holocaust.

The Emek Sholom Holocaust Memorial Cemetery
Forest Lawn Cemetery
4000 Pilots Lane
Richmond , VA 23222
(804)-321-7655

Profile prepared by Chris Ferguson
December, 2007

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