University Of Rhode Island: URI Hillel Creates Field Of Flags As Part Of Holocaust Remembrance

Press release from the University of Rhode Island:

By Dawn Bergantino

April 5, 2021

Field of Flags, 2018 (URI Hillel)

KINGSTON, R.I. – April 5, 2021 – In honor of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, Hillel, the Jewish Student Center at the University of Rhode Island, will create its annual “Field of Flags” exhibit, which remembers the 11 million victims of the Nazi Holocaust. The exhibit will take place on the Hammershlag Mall, located between the Multicultural Student Services Center and the Carothers Library, on the University’s Kingston Campus.

Each year since 2006, Hillel students have planted a Field of Flags in memory of Holocaust victims. Each one of the 2,400 flags represents 5,000 lives lost, including Jews, who are represented by yellow flags. Soviets, Poles, the disabled, homosexuals, and other groups targeted by the Nazis are represented by red, orange, white, purple, blue and green flags.

The display is a striking visual reminder for the University community of the Holocaust while underscoring the need to remain vigilant in the face of present day hatred and discrimination.

The flags will be planted on Monday, April 5, at 2:30 p.m. Flags will remain in place until Monday, April 12.

For more information, please contact University of Rhode Island Hillel Executive Director Amy Olson at (401) 874-2740, or via email at amyolson@uri.edu.

This press release was produced by the University of Rhode Island. The views expressed here are the author’s own.