The Margaret and Lou Schwartz Butterfly Garden Holocaust Memorial honors the 1.5 million children who perished in the Holocaust.
The sculpture, designed by local artist Paul Rousso, is adorned with almost 6,000 ceramic butterflies created by Charlotte faith, school and community groups. After the sculpture was dedicated in May of 2011, the garden was expanded to include a seating area, plantings and an Inspirational Pathway incorporating relevant quotes, and additional butterflies were added to the sculpture. The garden is located adjacent to the entrance to the Blumenthal Education Building.
The Butterfly Project is a call to action that uses education, the arts and memorial making to remember the 1.5 million child victims of the Holocaust by painting a ceramic butterfly in memory of each child.
This worldwide Holocaust Remembrance program was created at the San Diego Jewish Academy in 2006. Sandra and Leon Levine Jewish Community Center was brought to Charlotte, NC in 2008, and evolved into the current format - a 2 ½ hour workshop attended by middle school students that includes:
- Listening to a Holocaust survivor’s story, followed by Q&A
- An interactive multimedia exercise using the ADL’s Pyramid of Hate, during which students examine what can happen when individuals and governments fail to respect and protect all people
- Painting a ceramic butterfly in memory of a specific child who perished in the Holocaust
- A discussion in the Margaret and Lou Schwartz Butterfly Garden, while viewing the Holocaust Memorial
The project was inspired by the poem, The Butterfly, written by Pavel Friedmann while he was interred in the Theresienstadt ghetto, before he was deported to Auschwitz where he was killed in September 1944.
By learning about the past, we can make responsible decisions in the present to create a more peaceful future.
Sandra and Leon Levine Jewish Community Center staff and volunteers lead educational workshops about the lessons learned from the Holocaust for approximately 5,000 participants annually from public, charter, private and parochial schools, civic and religious groups in Mecklenburg County and beyond.
Sandra and Leon Levine Jewish Community Center Butterfly Project started offering Curated Adult Enrichment Programming in 2024. Since the inception of the project in Charlotte, more than 70,000 ceramic butterflies have been painted by the greater Charlotte community. For more information, please visit our webpage or email butterflyproject@charlottejcc.org.