A sea of stones, each a symbol for an unmarked grave, lay basking in the spring afternoon. Rachel Rosenberg knew some of the Holocaust victims they represented. One was her middle brother.

Looking up at the stainless steel "Star of Remembrance" monument at Wyuka Cemetery, she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"It's beautiful what they did," she said to the woman next to her. More tears followed.

In the shadow of Nebraska's first and only tangible, official acknowledgement of the Holocaust, dedicated Sunday at the northeast end of the cemetery, the Omaha woman told her story and showed the number tattooed on her arm.

"When the trains got into Aushwitz, they grabbed our hands," Rosenberg said. "And we did not have a name."

These living memories of the genocide continue to become fewer with the passing of time, but Lincoln Southeast High School teacher Paul Smith, who leads a class on Holocaust literature, said the monument should help ensure memory of the experience does not fade.

"As the survivors die out, we need to have things like this to educate future generations," he said.

Smith was one of a crowd of about 200 to attend the dedication. Many of those he saw sitting under a shade canopy had spoken to his classes before.

Some of the survivors he knows never speak of their experiences. Some do, but the weight of the day had taken its toll on them.

Perhaps Rabbi Meyer Kripke of Omaha — one of a group of speakers that included the memorial's artist Morton Katz, Attorney General Jon Bruning, members of the Holocaust Memorial Committee and local religious leaders — put it best:

"We meet in mournful celebration," Kripke said in his opening prayer. "Although those two words don't go together, I will say they do go together today."

The crowd sat in silence. Mournful, celebratory silence, as Kripke finished speaking: "Never again. Amen."

Bob Evnen, a member of the Nebraska State Board of Education, said he felt the impact of Kripke's words — especially since, in addition to telling a bit of Holocaust history, the rabbi mentioned other current struggles.

"I was very impressed with Rabbi Kripke's description," Evnen said. "He made reference to the slaughter of Darfur currently … (his) reference to Darfur drives home the fact that this is not a single event that you look at and then move on."

The state has not organized any specific educational programs to go along with the monument, but Evnen does expect teachers to use it in their lesson plans.

"The memorial itself serves two purposes … One is that it's the state of Nebraska affirming the existence of the historical fact of the Holocaust," he said.

Before the monument was built, Nebraska was one of six states in the nation without an official Holocaust monument.

"The second (purpose) is that it begins an inquiry about how did this happen," Evnen said. "You can't stop this, you can't prevent this, unless you understand at a human, social and political level how it began in the first place."

Reach Zach Pluhacek at 473-7395 or zpluhacek@journalstar.com.