Teaneck—Every year, for more than three decades, more than 1000 people attend the Teaneck annual Holocaust commemoration at Teaneck High School. There were far fewer people who attended the Teaneck Town Council meeting, where Holocaust Memorial chairmen, Steve Fox and Bruce Prince made their Holocaust Memorial Presentation, but they were quite vocal.
The controversy and dissent began more than two years ago when the committee proposed building a Holocaust Memorial and resource center in Andreas Park, located on River Road—where they wanted to convert an old boat house into a “museum,” and met with stiff opposition, mostly from the Hackensack River Keepers.
They then approached FDU and in June, approached the town council about using Brett Park as a possible location. Due to politics and procedure, the process has been drawn out. Council members had been approached with an on-line petition in support of the project that received over two hundred signatures.
In response, the council set up a subcommittee for Memorials and Monuments whose members are Councilman Alan Sohn, Deputy Mayor Elie Katz and Councilman Jason Castle. They proposed the memorial be moved to the Municipal Green on Teaneck Road and Cedar Lane, on a 30’x30’ foot lot with access from Teaneck Road and with designated parking.
The memorial itself is composed of two elements, according to Fox. The first element will be a tribute to the victims. Relatives could have the names of their loved ones—of murdered family members without proper graves—to be etched on a monument for all to see and to be a place to come and pay their respects. The committee says this monument will be a testament to the evils of racism—and that this part of the memorial will require raising money from the public.
The second component of the memorial is the educational one. Though an actual model of what is to be on the space has yet to be finalized, the vision is of four walls that will be able to display the chronological history of the events with an interactive component. “This will be a public place where children and adults of all backgrounds can learn,” said Fox and Prince. There will be QR codes etched into the walls that can be scanned with smartphones to access links that the viewer finds of interest. Fox and Prince’s Power Point presentation to the council was headlined, “Contemporary world events have reinforced this need more than ever.”
After the presentation, Council member Dr. Henry Pruitt responded by saying that Teaneck was the first town to voluntarily desegregate its public schools and that the Village Green was a fitting place for the Holocaust Memorial and other such structures. “I am happy to see unanimous support not only for this monument/memorial, but for future ones,” said Jason Castle, a councilman who once ran against Scott Garrett for Congress.
Councilman Mohammed Hameeduddin, who a few weeks ago stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and defended freedom of religion, said, “I supported the first site, I supported the second site and I support this site.”
Sarah Barber, a member of the Holocaust commemoration committee was very pleased with the response of the council, “This is a long time coming,” she said.
Fox and Prince are happy with the progress and hope to start building in the spring of 2016.
By Banji Latkin Ganchrow
