Kol Israel Foundation
Resilience, Remembrance and Holocaust Education
Hallie Duchon, Executive Director
Kol Israel Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1959 by Holocaust Survivors who settled in Cleveland. The organization initially functioned as a social community and extended family for the Survivors, many of whom were the sole Survivors of their families.
In 1961, Kol Israel designed and built one of the first monuments in the United States dedicated to the 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. Ashes of victims of several concentration camps are buried beneath it and the names of deceased family members are engraved on its surrounding walls. The memorial received recognition from the Ohio History Connection in 2017 and was designated a national memorial in 2022. It continues to be the site of an annual Fall Memorial held between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Today, Kol Israel Foundation fulfills its mission of Resilience, Remembrance and Holocaust Education by providing meaningful and empowering Holocaust education programs to public and private middle- and high-school students and adults in Northeast Ohio and beyond. The organization also hosts a variety of commemorative, informative, and though-provoking programs relevant to its mission.
Other Information:
Robert Zelwin, President
