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This Memorial Day will mark the 60th anniversary of the official opening of the USS Arizona Memorial. To mark the occasion, the National Park Service has set up a free temporary exhibit on the life and works of the memorial’s designer, Honolulu architect Alfred Preis.
The exhibit will be shown at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial Classroom at the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center from Tuesday through July 15, 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily.
Born in Vienna on Feb. 2, 1911, Preis studied architecture at Vienna Technical University and worked as a freelance designer until he fled the country with his wife and young son when German troops annexed the country, making his way to Honolulu.
After the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, Preis and his family were interned at the Sand Island Detention Facility along with other “enemy aliens” of Japanese and German descent. After his release, Preis went on to work for the Hawaii Territorial Department of Public Works and eventually opened his own business on Oahu.
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Preis would also design the Honolulu Zoo’s iconic entrance and numerous private homes on Oahu, but he remains most famous for the Arizona Memorial. The memorial was dedicated by President John F. Kennedy in a May 30, 1962, ceremony.
Critics at first called the memorial design a “squashed milk carton” because of its sagging center roof, but Preis defended his work.
“Wherein the structure sags in the center but stands strong and vigorous at the ends, expresses initial defeat and ultimate victory,” Preis said of the design. “The overall effect is one of serenity. Overtones of sadness have been omitted to permit the individual to contemplate his own personal responses … his innermost feelings.”
Preis later became the first executive director of the Hawaii State Foundation for Culture and the Arts from 1966 to 1980. After his death in 1994 at age 83, his ashes were spread from the memorial.
According to the NPS, the exhibit is supported by the nonprofit Pacific Historic Parks and the Austrian Consulate.
Pearl Harbor National Memorial is free to visit, and reservations are not required to enter the Visitor Center, view the museums or access the exhibit. However, reservations are recommended for the USS Arizona Memorial program and required for the Ford Island bus tour to see the USS Utah and USS Oklahoma memorials.
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