OUR COMMUNITY

“OUR COMMUNITY WILL FOREVER 
BENEFIT FROM THIS EXTRAORDINARY 
GIFT, WHICH SERVES TO EDUCATE 

AND PROMOTE PEACE.”

— DAVID HOOKER
PRESIDENT AND CEO OF MEIJER GARDENS

continued from page 13

14 | JUNE 23 • 2022 

happened.
”
While sponsoring speak-
ers, the Pestkas sought a more 
enduring project. 
A discussion between Linda 
Pestka and Nicole Katzman, 
Jewish Federation of Grand 
Rapids executive director, gen-
erated the idea of a sculpture to 
be placed at the Meijer Gardens, 
where some 750,000 people visit 
annually. A committee was estab-
lished with project leadership 
that included Dr. Rob Franciosi, 
English professor at Grand Valley 
State University, and Margaret 
Finkelstein, archivist for 
Federation, Temple Emanuel and 
Congregation Ahavas Israel.
“I want people to know that it’s 
true the Holocaust did happen,
” 
said Linda Pestka, who has trav-
eled to Poland with her daugh-
ters to view the town where her 
father had a happy life before the 
war. 
“Most of the Holocaust sur-
vivors are dead, and soon there 
will be only the grandchildren to 
carry on this message. The most 
meaningful impact [of this sculp-
ture], so that the Holocaust is not 
forgotten, is having it in a place 
that is as real and reputable and 
honorable as Meijer Gardens.
”
Two Pestka grandchildren, 
Alissa VanderKooi and Nathan 
Pestka, will give their perspec-
tives as family members rep-
resenting the legacy carried by 
survivors’ grandchildren. They 
knew of their grandfather as a 
religious role model. 
Henry Pestka served as build-
ing chairman of Congregation 
Ahavas Israel, where there is a 
mural depicting the 6 million 
victims of Nazi genocide. He 
was intent on attending the 
opening ceremony of the U.S. 
Holocaust Memorial Museum in 
Washington, D.C.
The Meijer Gardens sculp-
ture was chosen by a group that 

represented the Pestka family, 
Federation and the Meijer orga-
nization. Along the way, it was 
decided to have an associated 
website to provide the back-
ground of the sculpture and 
sculptor, pay tribute to survivors 
who settled and thrived in the 
Grand Rapids area, and explore 
the history of the Holocaust.
That website (jhwmi.com) 
goes live June 30.
“I’m incredibly proud that a 
community of our size has the 
spirit of philanthropy and the 
will to get large projects done,
” 
said Grand Rapids Federation 
Board Chairman David Alfonso, 
whose mother’s family left 
Vienna because of the Nazis and 
lived in South America before 
being able to enter the United 
States.
“This has been a two-year 
process with the Pestka family, 
Federation and Meijer Gardens, 
and we hope it serves as a model 
for other communities to do 
something similar in regards to 
Holocaust education.
”
The sculpture joins a 158-acre 
campus that includes works 
by Alexander Calder, Marshall 
Fredericks, Michele Oka Doner, 
Auguste Rodin and many other 
world-famous artists. 
“We are deeply grateful for this 
gift, adding such an important 
work of art to our permanent 
collection, which is dedicated in 
memory of Henry Pestka and the 
6 million Jews murdered in the 
Holocaust,
” said David Hooker, 
president and CEO of Meijer 
Gardens, who will join the roster 
of speakers attending the dedi-
cation.
“Our community will forever 
benefit from this extraordinary 
gift that serves to educate and 
promote peace.
” 

See an interview with sculptor Ariel 

Schlesinger in Arts & Life, page 45.

ON THE COVER

Steve and Linda 
Pestka

The sculpture symbolizes the 
massacre and endurance of Jews 
during World War II.

80

