Melville park now home to Anne Frank memorial

A memorial that symbolically captures the journey of Holocaust victim Anne Frank's life - shown in a texturally diverse circular pathway - was unveiled Sunday in Melville.

"The idea was to celebrate Anne Frank's life and to bring all faiths together, with the understanding that tyranny like she suffered shouldn't happen to anyone, anywhere in the world," said Susan A. Berland, Huntington Town councilwoman, at the unveiling at Arboretum Park on Threepence Drive .

"It's a place of reflection," said Robin Laban, the park's steward. "The vision was that there would be introspection and community spirit at the same time so that there is a bond of responsibility as a community and as an individual to take action."

The memorial is a circular pathway that surrounds a garden. The pathway's texture is broken up into stages, each symbolizing the different stages in the life of Anne Frank.

The smooth pavement that begins the journey mirrors the peace and tranquillity after World War I. It turns into rough, ripped-up concrete, embedded with glass, which serves to represent the time of the Nazi rise to power, when Frank hid in an attic and kept a diary. A sitting area of reflection, marked by three benches, follows, allowing the visitor to contemplate and sit in peace.

Closing up the pathway is a sculpture of a young girl's dress, created by sculptor Thea Lanzisero, who said that the work was "meant to connect memory, loss, femininity and hope."

The project was first developed under former Huntington Town councilwoman Marlene Budd, now a Suffolk County Family Court judge. But Berland, Laban and landscaper Steve Dubner took up the reins after Budd's election.

The memorial ceremony also featured local Holocaust survivors Janet Ickowicz, 68, of Plainview, and Ilana Yaari, 73, of Manhattan.

"I don't see myself as a Holocaust survivor. I see myself as the voice of six million victims, who say that this event will never, ever happen again," said Yaari, who was born in Poland during the Holocaust. "The memorial brings back a lot of memories."

"The memorial shows that there is always hope in the world. Even with Anne Frank's tragedy, she could still look at the world in a positive way," said Melville resident Edith Koffer, 80, who attended the ceremony.