Four months later, a plaque in a city park with a big mistake about the Holocaust remains

Reality Check is a Sacramento Bee series holding officials and organizations accountable and shining a light on their decisions. Have a tip? Email realitycheck@sacbee.com.

Last December, The Sacramento Bee reported an embarrassing mistake about the Holocaust on a commemorative plaque in a new city park.

The plaque celebrates the accomplishments of Bronze Star recipient Alexander “Pete” Petrovich, the late father of Paul Petrovich, developer of Crocker Village in Curtis Park, for, among other deeds, “guiding his troops during the initial liberation of the Dachau Concentration Camp in Poland.”

The problem is: Dachau is not in Poland. It’s in Germany, near Munich — more than 500 miles from the Polish border.

Nearly four months later, The Bee checked to see if the sign had been fixed.

Dachau remains “in Poland.” And taxpayers are on the hook to pay thousands of dollars to fix the error.

“How is this not fixed yet?” asked nearby Curtis Park resident Bill Arzbaecher. “You can visit Dachau. I have. It’s definitely in Germany, and the history there is very somber, tragic, and different from concentration camps where millions of Nazi victims were sent in Poland.”

City spokeswoman Gabby Miller said taxpayers will foot the estimated $6,500 bill to replace the plaque, even though the error was made by Petrovich, and not caught by the city.

A bitter dispute

The plaque, placed in November by Petrovich’s company, is part of a broader settlement of a 2016 lawsuit approved by the city council last July over the city’s handling of an unsuccessful bid by Petrovich to place a gas station in his Crocker Village development. In the fine print was a reversal by the city of another decision.

Petrovich, citing his contributions to the city, including the Crocker Village development, became furious in 2019 when he was told by city officials he had to go through a competitive process if he wanted a park, which is part of Crocker Village, named after his family.

A parks commission and the Sacramento City Council decided in 2019 that the new city park should be named for the iconic Sacramento-born woman designer, Ray Eames, rejecting Petrovich’s bid.

The July settlement over the gas station legal claims approved by the City Council gave Petrovich $7.5 million. It also gave a windfall from the city’s $18.5 million purchase of a K street property owned by Petrovich. And flip-flopped on the park naming.

The majority of the park, according to the settlement, would be named for Petrovich’s family, with a small playground named for Eames. Petrovich submitted the language for the plaque, to which the city agreed. An artist’s depiction of the plaque was attached to the settlement.

Petrovich placed the sign in front of the unfinished park in November, even though the agreement called for the city to place the plaque, with Petrovich paying for it, once the park had been completed and turned over to the city.

The still unfinished Petrovich Playfields, which include a grassy field doubling as a flood basin, a few benches, and a concrete path, is hardly the most fiscally consequential element of a settlement that has cost the city nearly $30 million. But the mistake, and its associated cost, is a reminder of a bitter dispute between Petrovich and the city that lasted years.

In a biography submitted to the city in 2019, Petrovich stated that, “Pete led his troops through Germany and under his command, freed the Concentration Camp at the medieval city of Dachau on April 29, 1945. Pete helped erect the Star of David and a Cross over the ovens where so many perished at the hands of the Nazis.”

Petrovich did not respond to recent phone and text messages from The Bee. In December he said in a phone interview that the Poland error was an unfortunate mistake, and that the underlying story was true and accurate.

‘Maybe the sign guy did it’

Responding to questions about the Poland mistake, Petrovich said, “the text and the typo, I don’t know how that happened. Maybe the sign guy did it… I can’t believe how many times all these documents were reviewed by seven lawyers on the city side. Plus the city attorney. I have one lawyer on my side, by the way.”

The park hasn’t been officially turned over to the city yet.

Why the city will pay for it

Arzbaecher said, “What the city should be saying to Mr. Petrovich is: Take down that inaccurate plaque immediately.”

Arzbaecher added that while he respects Pete Petrovich’s war heroism, before a new plaque is placed, “all the historical claims made in the plaque should be vetted by the city to make sure whatever replaces it is historically accurate.”

Last week, city spokeswoman Gabby Miller told The Bee that “the revised plaque will be installed after the city accepts the site from the developer.”

Although the language in the settlement puts the onus on Petrovich to pay for the plaque, Miller said in an email that the city will pay the $6,500 for the replacement.

“Overall, the City believes it bears some responsibility for the error, as City staff reviews all language before it is posted at City facilities,” she wrote. “This included review of the specific language for the plaque, and we did not identify the incorrect wording. In doing so, the City approved the language in error before the developer fabricated the sign.

“In the spirit of fairness, and with the desire to keep this project moving forward toward completion, the City has agreed to replace the plaque, as the current one requires removal.

Present pain

“This is painful on multiple levels,” said Gretchen Steinberg.

Steinberg was one of the driving forces behind a 2014 retrospective of Ray Eames work at the California Museum and an advocate for the Eames designation for the park. She expressed dismay about relegating the Eames part of the park to an off-the-beaten path playground, and the mistake over the Holocaust.

“What is painful is that no one, not the city, or the developer seems to care about this mistake, at least enough to fix it for months,” Steinberg said.

She pointed out that Eames was half-Jewish and played a major role in the war effort, helping design flexible wooden splints to help injured soldiers.

“I think she would be quite disappointed by this happening in her home city,” she said.

“Petrovich made this mistake, but taxpayers have to pay for it,” said resident Bill Stokes. “How does that make sense?”