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Moving on: Olympic memorial is rededicated at the JCC
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BY: DOUGLAS J. GUTH, Senior Staff Reporter
As the United States commemorated a terrible anniversary this week (9/11), the Jewish Community Center paid homage to another terrorism-induced tragedy.
One day before 9/11, and 34 years after 11 Israeli athletes were murdered by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympics, the David Berger National Memorial was rededicated in a public outdoor ceremony held on the grounds of the JCC.
The 13-foot steel sculpture was named after Shaker Heights native David Berger, one of the athletes initially held hostage and then murdered by gun-toting terrorists. ists. The memorial, which rests on a grassy expanse near the JCC's South Woodland entrance, is circled by plants and a cement walkway. It is designed to represent the traditional Olympic rings broken by the Munich tragedy.
About 100 people attended the JCC ceremony on a cool, sunny Sunday morning in Beachwood. Onlookers stood around ranks of chairs filled by the slain athlete's family, including his parents, Dr. Ben and Dorothy Berger, the couple's two other children, Barbara and Fred, and their grandchildren, one of whom is named after David.
In an address to the crowd, Dr. Berger, 82, recalled the long hours waiting for news of his son while watching the nightmare unfold on national television. Dr. Berger never viewed the tragedy as an end - either of his son's memory or of the Olympic Games - but as what he hoped was a beginning of peace and understanding among warring peoples.
Despite the continued threat of terrorism and violence in the Middle East and abroad, Dr. Berger's attitude has not changed. His son's sculpture should not be viewed as a memorial, but as "an entrance into the future,” he said.
David Berger Gulak and Dalit Gulak, both in their 20s, never met David Berger. However, the siblings carry both tangible and intangible pieces of their uncle's rich legacy.
David Gulak, 26, is named after the murdered Olympian. Tall and slim, with dark hair, the Maine resident heard many stories about his gone-but-not-forgotten uncle.
David Berger grew up in Shaker Heights and was a competitive weightlifter in high school and college. He earned a juris doctorate from Columbia University in New York City before making aliyah to Israel. David was known as a pacifist, writing poetry decrying the Vietnam War.
Family members have described him in past CJN articles as witty and more than a bit rebellious. While at Columbia, he helped lead a five-mile march down Fifth Avenue to protest the US presence in Vietnam.
Gulak has heard all the tales. His mother Barbara tells him he has his uncle's sense of humor. When he thinks of David, "I think of him smiling,” Gulak told the CJN. "Smiling and loving.”
Dalit Gulak, 23, has her uncle's athletic genes - she played soccer for 15 years and even coached a boys' soccer team at an orphanage in Cusco, Peru. The blond, amiable young Washington, D.C., resident also has a silver bracelet that belonged to David - she carries the adornment almost everywhere she goes.
Dalit also carries her uncle's belief that sports are more about peace and camaraderie than about beating the other guy. Sports are "where people come together to find a common playing field and break down social barriers,” she said in a speech during the memorial rededication ceremony. "That's why David went to Munich.”
David Berger competed in the 1972 Olympics as part of Israel's weightlifting team. The 11 slain athletes were staying in Olympic Village in Munich when members of a Palestinian terrorist organization called Black September climbed an unguarded fence and stormed the dormitory where the Israeli delegation was sleeping. The terrorists threatened to murder the Israelis unless Israel released Arab prisoners from its jails.
The drama ended at Fuerstenfeldbruck airfield when German authorities botched a rescue attempt as the terrorists and their hostages were boarding airplanes. David Berger and his teammates were killed in the ensuing firefight, along with five of the eight terrorists. Berger was 28.
The sculpture created in his name is not just a reminder of violence, but represents "hope that the world will overcome violence,” Dalit added.
The David Berger National Memorial was originally dedicated in 1975 and stood outside the Mayfield Jewish Community Center in Cleveland Heights. It was moved from the grounds of the Mayfield JCC after that facility was closed in 2005. Created by (the late) Cleveland artist David E. Davis, the sculpture was then restored at McKay Lodge Fine Arts Conservation Laboratory in Oberlin. While in storage, it was cleaned of all existing corrosion, and an application of corrosion inhibitor was applied.
The cost of moving, restoring, installing and landscaping the outdoor sculpture was about $80,000. Funding for the project was provided by a number of sources, including the Berger family, the Bernice and David E. Davis Philanthropic Fund of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland, and the Righteous Persons Foundation.
Visitors to the JCC will be able to view the monument upon entering the campus. David Berger's family is "unbelievably pleased” with the memorial's bucolic setting, Dalit told the CJN. "It's beyond our expectations.”
David Gulak didn't grow up in Cleveland, and the tragedy that took his uncle's life happened years before he was born. But here, with his namesake's monument sitting behind him, September 1972 doesn't seem that far away.
"It's very powerful,” Gulak said, gazing upon the David Berger memorial.
dguth@cjn.org
One day before 9/11, and 34 years after 11 Israeli athletes were murdered by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympics, the David Berger National Memorial was rededicated in a public outdoor ceremony held on the grounds of the JCC.
The 13-foot steel sculpture was named after Shaker Heights native David Berger, one of the athletes initially held hostage and then murdered by gun-toting terrorists. ists. The memorial, which rests on a grassy expanse near the JCC's South Woodland entrance, is circled by plants and a cement walkway. It is designed to represent the traditional Olympic rings broken by the Munich tragedy.
About 100 people attended the JCC ceremony on a cool, sunny Sunday morning in Beachwood. Onlookers stood around ranks of chairs filled by the slain athlete's family, including his parents, Dr. Ben and Dorothy Berger, the couple's two other children, Barbara and Fred, and their grandchildren, one of whom is named after David.
In an address to the crowd, Dr. Berger, 82, recalled the long hours waiting for news of his son while watching the nightmare unfold on national television. Dr. Berger never viewed the tragedy as an end - either of his son's memory or of the Olympic Games - but as what he hoped was a beginning of peace and understanding among warring peoples.
Despite the continued threat of terrorism and violence in the Middle East and abroad, Dr. Berger's attitude has not changed. His son's sculpture should not be viewed as a memorial, but as "an entrance into the future,” he said.
David Berger Gulak and Dalit Gulak, both in their 20s, never met David Berger. However, the siblings carry both tangible and intangible pieces of their uncle's rich legacy.
David Gulak, 26, is named after the murdered Olympian. Tall and slim, with dark hair, the Maine resident heard many stories about his gone-but-not-forgotten uncle.
David Berger grew up in Shaker Heights and was a competitive weightlifter in high school and college. He earned a juris doctorate from Columbia University in New York City before making aliyah to Israel. David was known as a pacifist, writing poetry decrying the Vietnam War.
Family members have described him in past CJN articles as witty and more than a bit rebellious. While at Columbia, he helped lead a five-mile march down Fifth Avenue to protest the US presence in Vietnam.
Gulak has heard all the tales. His mother Barbara tells him he has his uncle's sense of humor. When he thinks of David, "I think of him smiling,” Gulak told the CJN. "Smiling and loving.”
Dalit Gulak, 23, has her uncle's athletic genes - she played soccer for 15 years and even coached a boys' soccer team at an orphanage in Cusco, Peru. The blond, amiable young Washington, D.C., resident also has a silver bracelet that belonged to David - she carries the adornment almost everywhere she goes.
Dalit also carries her uncle's belief that sports are more about peace and camaraderie than about beating the other guy. Sports are "where people come together to find a common playing field and break down social barriers,” she said in a speech during the memorial rededication ceremony. "That's why David went to Munich.”
David Berger competed in the 1972 Olympics as part of Israel's weightlifting team. The 11 slain athletes were staying in Olympic Village in Munich when members of a Palestinian terrorist organization called Black September climbed an unguarded fence and stormed the dormitory where the Israeli delegation was sleeping. The terrorists threatened to murder the Israelis unless Israel released Arab prisoners from its jails.
The drama ended at Fuerstenfeldbruck airfield when German authorities botched a rescue attempt as the terrorists and their hostages were boarding airplanes. David Berger and his teammates were killed in the ensuing firefight, along with five of the eight terrorists. Berger was 28.
The sculpture created in his name is not just a reminder of violence, but represents "hope that the world will overcome violence,” Dalit added.
The David Berger National Memorial was originally dedicated in 1975 and stood outside the Mayfield Jewish Community Center in Cleveland Heights. It was moved from the grounds of the Mayfield JCC after that facility was closed in 2005. Created by (the late) Cleveland artist David E. Davis, the sculpture was then restored at McKay Lodge Fine Arts Conservation Laboratory in Oberlin. While in storage, it was cleaned of all existing corrosion, and an application of corrosion inhibitor was applied.
The cost of moving, restoring, installing and landscaping the outdoor sculpture was about $80,000. Funding for the project was provided by a number of sources, including the Berger family, the Bernice and David E. Davis Philanthropic Fund of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland, and the Righteous Persons Foundation.
Visitors to the JCC will be able to view the monument upon entering the campus. David Berger's family is "unbelievably pleased” with the memorial's bucolic setting, Dalit told the CJN. "It's beyond our expectations.”
David Gulak didn't grow up in Cleveland, and the tragedy that took his uncle's life happened years before he was born. But here, with his namesake's monument sitting behind him, September 1972 doesn't seem that far away.
"It's very powerful,” Gulak said, gazing upon the David Berger memorial.
dguth@cjn.org
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