Greenwood Cemetery is one of my favorite cemeteries in Atlanta. Its diversity in markers and burial sections illustrates the different people who call Atlanta home. Greenwood has an extensive Jewish section. There are many people buried here who escaped Nazi Germany. After World War II, many Jews immigrated to Atlanta.

In 1964, Jewish Holocaust survivors created the Eternal Life-Hemshech. Their focus was to create a memorial where people could mourn and recite Kaddish.

The organization turned to Benjamin Hirsch, a Holocaust survivor who lost family during the Holocaust and an alumnus of the Georgia Tech Architecture program. He chose locally quarried Stone Mountain granite to symbolize trauma and resilience. The memorial contains four entrances, representing the earth’s four corners, and all were welcome through the “doors.”

Six torches extend into the sky from the center of the memorial. Each torch represents one million people who lost their lives during the Holocaust. During the annual Yom HaShoah services, they are lit. At its center rise six towering torches, each representing one million Jewish lives extinguished by the Nazis. During the annual Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) services, these torches are lit. Under the torches in a vault, there are ashes interred of some of the people who lost their lives at Dachau.

The memorial opened on April 25, 1965. There are annual services held at the memorial.

In 2008, the memorial was recognized on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2024, the memorial was restored.