Rhode Island Holocaust Memorial Unveiled Tonight

It is Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Memorial Day, and tonight, the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island is commemorating by unveiling plans to build The Rhode Island Holocaust Memorial in Providence.

"The purpose of the evening's program," said Jeffrey Savit, the alliance's president and CEO, "is to honor a commitment we made to the millions who perished and their surviving families and to the survivors of the Holocaust."

"We owe it to them to and to all generations to come to have a lasting memorial so we will never forget tragedy and never again allow any form of genocide or holocaust to happen to any people."

The program starts at 7 p.m. at Brown University/RISD Hillel The Glenn and Darcy Weiner Center at 80 Brown St. in Providence.

The memorial will be located in downtown Providence's Market Square, next to the World Wars I and II memorials.

The sculpture's designer, Jonathon Bonner, will unveil his plans. The keynote speaker is Rabbi Baruch Goldstein, a Holocaust survivor.

The hope is for the memorial to be constructed by Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2013.