6 hours Ago By Zach Petroff
The “Gate of Life” Holocaust Memorial located at the former Jewish Community Center in Uniontown is being disassembled and will be moved this summer. “I was practically raised at the Jewish Center, and I know how important that monument is to the community,” property owner Chris Parker Sr. said Monday.
Created by artist and former Penn State Fayette Eberly Campus professor Zeljko Kujundzic in 1982, the 16-foot rough-hewn sandstone archway is shaped like the Hebrew word “chai” (חי), meaning “life,” according to the Jewish Archive of Pittsburgh. The monument features the inscription, “None dare forget/Dedicated to the memory of/The six million martyrs who/Perished in the Holocaust/1937-1945.” In addition to the archway, the site includes two large stone sculptures: a post and lintel gateway known as the “Gate of Life,” and a set of vertically stacked stone slabs.
Both sculptures are installed a few feet apart on a gravel-covered concrete foundation. Fayette County Historical Society President Chris Buckelew expressed sadness over the monument’s removal from its original spot, but emphasized the importance of keeping it within the community due to its powerful message. “When I see it every time I pass, it symbolizes a city of inclusion,” Buckelew said.
Parker Sr., who owns Auto Land in Uniontown, said he has been looking for a local place to move the monument since he purchased the former Jewish Community Center a couple of years ago. He is in the process of finalizing where the monument will be reassembled and placed this summer, but said it will remain in Fayette County.
“The first year I became involved with the property, I knew that if we were going to keep it, we needed to install a beautiful bronze fence and make it accessible for the Jewish community–and really anyone–to enjoy,” Parker Sr. said. When Parker Sr.
and his son Chris Parker Jr. started getting inquiries from museums, historical preservation societies and religious groups, they knew it was time to move the monument. “We wanted to keep it local,” Parker Jr.
said. “I think once we started getting calls from Texas, we knew it was time to probably get this to the right organization.”.
