Years after surviving two ghettos, three concentration camps, and a labor camp, Lola Borkowska Lansky awakened from frenzied sleep, only to realize she was safe in bed and not in Nazi hands.
With her sister and mother, Lansky was transferred in and out of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Ravensbruck, and Muhlhausen labor camp. At Bergen-Belsen – which she described as “hell on earth” because of unsanitary, overcrowded conditions – her mother died from illness one day before liberation. Together, the sisters were reunited with family members in Feldafing displaced persons camp in Germany. Lansky immigrated to the U.S. in 1946, and one year later married Rubin Lansky, also a survivor.
“Like a dutiful daughter, you don’t disobey your father,” Lansky said about why she moved to the United States in 1946 instead of Israel as she had wished.
Lola and Rubin Lansky moved to Atlanta in 1953. In 1964, the Lanskys put an ad in the newspaper to meet other survivors. The goal was to erect a physical memorial – there were no grave sites for those who perished in the Holocaust.
Georgia Tech graduate and architect Ben Hirsch attended the meeting. Lola Lansky, who was known as a tough character, gave Hirsch two weeks to come up with a plan for what became the Memorial for the Six Million in southwest Atlanta’s Greenwood Cemetery.
Now, almost 60 years after the memorial’s dedication, both Lola and Rubin Lansky have passed away, and the site is undergoing much-needed repair. Their daughter, Karen Lansky Edlin, is the president of Eternal Life-Hemshech.
The memorial is being renovated by Savannah-based Landmark Preservation, a historic preservation company. Edlin estimates that restoration will cost $200,000.
Representing the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust, six torches rise from a crypt where ashes from Dachau concentration camp are kept in an urn.
“It’s just fascinating to know that these Holocaust survivors back in 1964 placed this urn inside,” said Edlin. “The urn is in safekeeping during the process, and we will have another small memorial service to put it back inside.”
The project includes replacing gas lines for the torches, cleaning and waxing the bronze plaques, repointing stone, and landscaping. It is expected to be finished by May.
Edlin said the Memorial to the Six Million is always open, even while under restoration.
In 2008, the memorial was added to the National Register of Historic Places despite it not being a 50-year-old establishment.
“Normally, a monument needs to meet a minimum 50 year requirement to be put on the National Register. But they were so moved by the personal nature of the memorial,” said Edlin.
Plaques hanging on the wall inside list her mother’s name and her family members – some of whom were murdered. “The plaques serve as a gravestone,” Edlin said, “so it’s very personal inside.”
Edlin said Eternal Life-Hemshech has become an organization for survivors, family and friends of survivors. Some board members and organization members did not lose people in the Holocaust, they’re just dedicated to the mission of Holocaust education.
Edlin said the project is expected to finish in time for Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, in May.
Watch a seven-minute video on Eternal Life-Hemshech.