Holocaust Memorial Garden Planned for Queens

Traditional ground breaking ceremony on the side of Queens Borough Hall where an historic Holocaust Memorial Garden will be established.

By Henry Levy

Queens county has long been known as “The World’s Borough” where people from over 120 countries, speaking 135 different languages choose to live in unity and harmony. On November 25, 2025 it also became known as the borough dedicated to Holocaust remembrance when it held a ground breaking ceremony for the establishment of an historic Holocaust Memorial Garden by the lawn on the Southeast of Queens Borough Hall.

The idea for such a garden germinated nearly three years ago during a meeting with Holocaust survivor Vladimir Epshteyn and the Queens Jewish Community Council. With the support of local politicians, other Jewish organizations and citizens of Queens whose families had a connection to the Holocaust, the idea really took root and started to grow. Under the leadership of Michael Nussbaum and the QJCC a coalition of like-minded individuals and organizations made the contact necessary for this project to have a successful outcome. The key moment came, according to First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro this past June in City Hall when a pledge on behalf of Mayor Eric Adams for $2 million ensured the that the memorial garden would become a reality.

During the ceremony, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, who supported the project from the outset, not only verbally, but with a $1 allocation from county funds, described how Queens County is the home of one of the largest concentration of Holocaust survivors so his decision was personal to those as well. After a number of city and state politicians pledged funding for the memorial garden, not to be outdone Richards donated an additional $1million. This was beginning to take on the aspects of a Yom Kippur appeal so common in our synagogues, which is a very good thing indeed for the such a worthy project.

Among the other notaries at the ceremony were Deputy Mayor Fabien Levy, Executive Director of the Mayor’s to Combat Antisemitism Moshe Davis, Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the Mayor Menasche Shapiro, Commissioner of the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit Fred Kreizman, and representing Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani was Ali Najmi.

Queens politicians were represented by NYS Senator Toby Stavisky, Chair of the Committee on Higher Education who allocated $1 million from the State Senate. Assemblymember Sam Berger recounted his family’s Holocaust story and announced that the Queens Assembly delegation was making a concerted effort to raise an additional $1.5 million in the new state budget. He was joined at the ceremony by Assemblymembers Alicia Hyndman, Nily Rozic, Ed Braunstein, David Weprin and Senator Leroy Comrie. Other ntables were Rabbi Mayer Waxman, Judy Rosen and Barry Grodenchik from QJCC, Rabbi Shlomo Nisanov of Kehilat Sephardim of Kew Gardens, Queens DA Melinda Katz and others