Kingsborough Community College unveiled a statue honoring the victims of the Holocaust on Aug. 13.
Survivors of the Nazi horrors of World War II joined borough political leaders at the college to unveil the statue — entitled “Infinity” — outside the Library Plaza, which one local pol called an ideal setting because it will be seen daily by passers-by.
“When I first saw this sculpture, it became clear to me that it deserved a very special space where it would be seen and appreciated by many different people every day,” said Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz (D–Brighton Beach) at the ceremony. The state pol was joined at the event by Borough President Adams and Councilman Mark Treyger (D–Coney Island).
The statue, which was donated to the college by a family that fled Nazi genocide in the Ukraine during World War II, resembles an infinity symbol wrapped in flames, representing endurance in spite of adversity, according one family member.
“The statue symbolizes infinity and endurance, and there’s fire around it because you cannot burn infinity,” said Samuel Bykov, who was just a toddler when the Nazis kidnapped his family in southern Ukraine and sent them to a death camp.
“When I was a year and a half, we were captured by German-Romanian Nazis and transported to a concentration camp, where 54,600 people were massacred in two months,” Bykov said.
The Manhattan Beach community college is an ideal host for the memorial, due to its Holocaust Memorial and Research Center, as well as the diversity of its students, said the interim college president, many of who are immigrants who have likewise fled persecution.
“We have such a rich diversity of students at Kingsborough who have felt oppression as well,” said Peter Cohen. “The Bykov family wanted to reach the most people and provide for a learning moment, so the sculpture is symbolic of that, as well as the work that we’re doing at our college.”
The surrounding neighborhoods are also home to one of the nation’s largest communities of Holocaust survivors, including a sizeable population of Russian-speaking survivors in the Brighton Beach and Sheepshead Bay area. This is why it remains an important mission to keep alive the memory of the horrific atrocity visited upon so many Brooklynites’ ancestors, Cymbrowitz said.
“We all feel a sense of obligation to make sure the world never forgets what happened to our six million brethren who perished at the hands of the Nazis — perished because the world chose to remain silent,” he said.
The event allowed residents to share their stories and connect through their common experiences, according to one local community organizer.
“The event was unbelievable,” said Fira Stukelman of the American Association of Invalids and Veterans of World War II from the former USSR. “It was a great chance to meet people and talk to them, and the speeches really touched my heart.”
