The first of the Third Reichs' concentration camps, Dachau, located ten miles from Munich was to be the model for those that followed. Its opening in March 1933 was announced at a press conference by Heinrich Himmler, later appointed to direct Hitler's Final Solution of the Jewish question.
At first the camp received political opponents of the Nazi Party, then Jehovah's witnesses, gypsies, homosexuals and clergy. The systematic persecution of Jews in November 1938 brought more than 10,000 Jews to Dachau from where many were initially released with proof of intent to leave the country. During World War II, Jewish prisoners were either transported to death centers or remained at Dachau subject to pseudo-medical experiments and the brutality of S3 officers.
By the time U.S. troops reached the inmates of Dachau on April 29, 1945, more than 40,000 people had been killed, 80 to 90 percent of them Jews.
*
The Holocaust Memorial Park, at the foot of Sheepshead Bay between Shore Boulevard and Emmons Avenue, was created in 1985 through the efforts of the Holocaust Memorial Committee with the support of Community leaders and legislators. Dedicated officially in June 1985 by Mayor Edward Koch, the Park has been the site of memorial programs. During these years, the Holocaust Memorial Committee campaigned to have a permanent memorial to the victims of the Shoah erected at the park. With funding allocated by the Brooklyn Borough President Howard Golden, the permanent Holocaust Memorial was officially completed and dedicated in 1997 by Mayor Rudolph Giulianni and thousands of names have already been inscribed on granite markers in The Holocaust Memorial Park. At New York's first public memorial to the Holocaust, an eternal light shines in lasting memory of those who perished and as a beacon of hope for the future. A field of granite markers, inscribed with places and important historical events related to the Holocaust, will educate and inspire future generations to remember.
Tags: nyc new york city sheepshead bay holocaust memorial park holocaust memorial holocaust dachau concentration camp prison camp New York ny kings county Brooklyn
© All Rights Reserved
The Wyckoff-Bennett Homestead, at 1669 E. 22nd St, is generally considered to be the most beautiful of the surviving Dutch Colonial farmhouses in Brooklyn. It is believed the farmhouse was built by Henry and Abraham Wyckoff, and from an inscription found cut in a beam in the old barn, it is assumed that the house was standing as early as 1766.
During the Revolutionary War, Hessian soldiers were quartered on the premises. At least one of them recorded a lasting impression on the four -by-seven window panes with a sharp instrument. Two of these panes have been carefully preferred--one inscribed with the name "Toepfer Capt. of Regt. de Ditfurth" and the other "M. Bach Lieutenant Hessen Hanau Artillerie."
The farm, consisting of about 100 acres and certain meadows and woodlands, as well as pew number sixty-two in the old Gravesend Dutch Reformed Church, were bought by Cornelius W. Bennett in 1832. The Bennett family held possession through four generations until 1983, when it was sold to the Mont family. It is currently being purchased by the City of New York from Annette and Stuart Mont who will remain. The homestead will be called the Wyckoff Bennett Mont House park.
The rectangular house has a long porch with six slender columns, extending the width of the southern exposure sheltered by a curved roof that rests on columns, and it retains its original double Dutch door. An extension on the northern end contains the kitchen and the former milk house. In the late 1890's when, when the land was divided into lots, streets were put through and the house, which faced south, was turned to face the west. The structure was placed upon a brick foundation, and dormers were added.
The Wyckoff-Bennett Homestead was designated a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1968.
National Register #74001253 (1974)
Tags: Wyckoff-Bennett Homestead Henry and Abraham Wyckoff House midwood national register of historic places landmark nyclpc New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission nyc ny New York City New York Cornelius W. Bennett Wyckoff House Wyckoff Bennett Mont House Wyckoff Bennett Mont House Park Dutch Colonial Sheepshead Bay kings county NRHP U.S. National Register of Historic Places National Historic Landmark NHL U.S. National Historic Landmark Brooklyn
© All Rights Reserved