Remember Sambir
Landscapes tell stories. “Remember” will honor the tragic past and celebrate the freedom to remember in the new Democratic Ukraine. To tell these stories we follow a circular along the perimeter and a linear path in the center. Together they create a new landscape of reconciliation.
The site is southeast of the City of Sambir; it looks abandoned now. The new creative plan will preserve the site as a green open space with historic memories and create a new park for the people of Sambir.
Remember
REMEMBER will tell these tragic stories with respect and reverence. It will honor multiple generations: the memory of the once vibrant Ukrainian Jewish community, the innocent martyrs of the Holocaust and the current generation’s righteous efforts to remember and reconcile. This new landscape will bring these memories back into daily life and celebrate our freedom to remember.
Large Mass Grave
Walking along the circular path we find the large mass grave and the smaller mass grave in the corner. They tell the story of the Nazi “Holocaust by Bullets” (Father Dubois). In 1943, 10,000 Jews from Sambir were killed in four main “Aktions”, the Nazi euphemism for meticulously planned mass murder, each deliberately coinciding with a major Jewish holiday. At the Sambir cemetery, 1200 innocent Jewish children, men and women were shot in cold blood and buried alive in the large mass grave.
North Gate
Patriot’s Plaque - North Gate
Here lie 17 young Ukranians members of OUN, executed by the German Gestapo in July, 1944.
Glory to Ukraine!
Glory to Her Heroes!
May their memory be eternal!
OH THE RED VIBURNUM IN THE MEADOW
Oh there is a bowed red viburnum tree in the meadow
Somehow our glorious Ukraine is grieving,
But we will lift up that red viburnum tree,
But hey-hey, we, our glorious Ukraine, will rejoice!
But we will lift up that red viburnum tree,
But hey-hey, we, our glorious Ukraine, will rejoice!
17 Ukrainian Freedom Fighters
The new creative plan will restore the wall and build a memorial to 17 fighters for Ukranian Freedom who resisted the Nazi occupation.
Common Monument
The new common monument is the climax of the composition; it will be seen from all the gateways. Walking past the dark entrance to the light we experience the joy of overcoming oppression to the wonder of freedom. From the balcony we overlook the common garden and the panorama of Sambir beyond. Our body, standing on the balcony, becomes a live sculpture that animate the space and focus the vital energy of the whole site.