The Gate of Immortality — Holocaust & Heroism Memorial
The Gate of Immortality is a Holocaust and Heroism Memorial planned for Chicagoland — set to become one of the significant iconic Jewish landmarks in the United States.
Its mission is to unite universal humanitarian values, historical fact, and national Jewish symbols and traditions — bringing together the horror of the tragedy of European Jewry with the world’s sympathy and solidarity for the victims of the Holocaust, and recognition of the heroism of Jewish soldiers in World War II — through architecture, fine art, and modern technology.
Conceived in the aftermath of October 7 and the sharp global rise in antisemitism, the memorial is intended as a clear, enduring statement: that the Jewish people exist, are alive, and will endure in any circumstance, as they have for more than five thousand years. Beyond its historical meaning, the Gate of Immortality and the walls of Jerusalem stand as a symbol of peace and protection from the horrors of any genocide — for the souls of the departed, for the living, and for future generations of all peoples: Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and beyond.
Highlights
- Gate of the Jerusalem Walls — two vertical walls, angled to form an open gateway, built of concrete imitating Jerusalem stone, their outer surfaces bearing relief images of the Jerusalem Gates (Zion, Jaffa, Lion).
- Walls of Memory — inner surfaces engraved with the names of the sites of mass extermination of Jews during the Holocaust, and with official data on the Jewish soldiers of many nations who fought against Nazi Germany.
- Star of David Pedestal — the walls rise from a pedestal-stage shaped as the Star of David — the symbol of the Jewish people — rendered in coloured granite or dense concrete.
- The Vanquished Symbols of Nazism — below ground level, an illuminated pit holds sculptural imprints of defeated Nazi symbols (fragments of the Auschwitz and Buchenwald gates, ghetto fences, barbed wire), encircled by a symbolic single railway rail on sleepers — a tragic loop that visitors walk above, trampling the symbols of fascism as a sign of victory and survival.
- Light & Holographic Expositions — the inner walls double as surfaces for holographic and laser projections — children’s art from around the world on the theme “A World without Hate,” works by renowned artists, and thematic displays of artifacts, photographs and film on the Holocaust and on hatred driven by xenophobia, antisemitism and racism.
How We Work
The memorial concept was originally prepared for the Babi Yar Memorial Complex in Kyiv, Ukraine, and successfully presented in October 2021 during the events marking the 80th anniversary of the Babi Yar tragedy. Following the events of February 24, 2022, the Kyiv project could not be realized — and the initiative is now being advanced for Chicagoland.
The memorial is developed together with its authors, organizers, sponsors, and community partners. The honorary names of the authors, organizers and sponsors will be engraved on a dedicated panel of the memorial, and the memorial may be given a name proposed by its organizers and/or sponsors.
How to Support
Sponsors, philanthropists and community partners are invited to help fund and realize the memorial; the honorary names of supporters will be engraved on the memorial’s dedicated panel. The estimated project cost is $500,000–$750,000.