GREENSBORO, N.C. — An empty space in Greensboro’s LaBauer Park will soon be home to North Carolina’s first monument honoring the women and children of the Holocaust.
What You Need To Know
- Victoria Carlin Milstein is a local artist sculpting a monument honoring the women and children of the Holocaust
- Shelly Weiner is a survivor of Holocaust and Milstein is using her hands as a main focal point in sculpture to help honor Weiner’s mother and aunt
- Donations can be made at womenoftheshoahjp.org for the monument and ongoing Holocaust education
The name of that monument, “She wouldn’t take off her boots,” is dedicated to a woman who defied the Nazis by refusing to take their orders.
“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference,” said Victoria Carlin Milstein, the monument’s artist.
This famous quote by Elie Wiesel can be seen at the foundation of this monument.
“This is a Holocaust memorial monument that’s going to be here in La Bauer Park,” Milstein said.
Milstein has been an artist since she was 17. While sculpting isn’t her first form of creative expression, an opportunity presented itself that she couldn’t pass up.
“Clay is a very emotional medium,” Milstein said.
The sculpture depicting the women and children of the Holocaust is the first in North Carolina.
“I just could not comprehend what had happened to them, and you know woman, about the woman’s journey, you know, they had their children with them and they were also tortured in certain, specific ways, and I relate to them because I’m a woman, and I’m a Jewish woman,” Milstein said.
Victoria hopes the sculpture will serve as a reminder, educating future generations.
“What do you do with that? What I say you do with it is you become a witness. You learn the history, and you teach your children and you talk to your friends so that you can recognize the signs,” Milstein said.
An inspiration for this piece was a firsthand witness to the tragedy.
“This is Shelly’s hands. She posed for the hands and she said it’s like her mother’s hands,” Milstein said.
Shelly Weiner is a holocaust survivor. She was 4 when the war began. Weiner, her mother, aunt and cousin hid out for 28 months total.
“The farmer made a place for us on top of his barn, in the back of it, and put hay in front of it,” Weiner said.
After 20 months hiding out in the barn, Weiner said, “Someone informed on us and the farmer came and said we had to come down, and to this day, I don’t understand still what possessed us, but my cousin and I started crying and begging our mothers not to go down quietly. We knew there was a back door to the barn, and the barn was right next to the edge of the woods and we ran in the woods and hid.”
After three days of hiding out in the woods, the farmer dug a bunker for Weiner and her family to stay in. Eight months later, the Ukranian and Russian army liberated them.
“All we had was straw. We had very little light, very little air and very little food,” Weiner said.
Despite all she’s been through, Weiner has still found light after going through one of the darkest times in history.
“I’m fortunate. I have a very positive outlook on life, and I’ve been very lucky in that way. Every time I talk about it and think about it, there’s a sense of loss and loneliness because you know I don’t have a family. I have my own family, thank goodness, but I don’t have extended family and I think about what these family members could have added to society, my cousins, my aunts, my uncles and I feel a very strong responsibility and that’s why I talk to schools. I feel like if one student hears me and does something about it, in a sense of being kind and speaking out when things are wrong, I’ve done my job,” Weiner said.
So when Milstein asked Weiner to be a part of this monument by sharing her story and strength with generations to come, she didn’t hesitate.
“You’re doing such important work, and what you’re doing will stand for a long, long time and educate people to the horrors so they may not repeat them again,” Weiner said.
Milstein says the monument is expected to go to foundry in late July 2022 and will be completed the following year.
The monument will have a QR code for people to scan and learn more about the meaning of the sculpture and Weiner’s story. Donations are being taken to help fund this monument and ongoing Holocaust education. To donate, click here.