Barney Zeitz has a story to tell and he is going to tell it using eight and half foot-tall stained glass windows.

The story actually begins 400 years ago with a Jewish community living in Flieden, Germany, a small town a few hours outside Frankfurt. A small synagogue was there too, built in 1875, but on Nov. 9, 1938 it was trashed during Kristallnacht, the day the Nazis destroyed synagogues all over Germany. By the end of the war the Jewish community in the town had either fled or been killed.

The building lay vacant for 13 years and then was revitalized as a Protestant church, which it remains today.

In 2013 Marie Ariel, a Jewish woman from Cambridge, visited Flieden on an ancestral pilgrimage. Her grandfather had his bar mitzvah in the synagogue in 1899. Ms. Ariel met with the minister of the church, who told her he was looking for a Jewish artist of stained glass who could create something to remember the fact that Jewish people had lived in this town and worshipped in this space.

Ms. Ariel had Vineyard ties and she thought of Barney Zeitz, the local artist who among many other projects has refurbished the stained glass windows of many Island churches.

Last summer, Mr. Zeitz traveled to Germany to visit the church. Since then he has been working on the project and will have one window completed by the end of this summer. Next Thursday, June 16, at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center he will give a talk about the project and show some of his work to date.

“It’s not a Holocaust memorial,” Mr. Zeitz said. “It’s a remembrance that Jewish people lived there. It’s really a symbol for Germany and all of Europe.”

Mr. Zeitz’s plan is to create six windows, four of which will be 8.5 feet tall, with two smaller panels. The windows will begin when one enters the church and continue down both sides of the building up to the alter. On the right side of the church there will be an inscription in Hebrew and the left side an inscription in German. Because Hebrew is read right to left, both passages will essentially begin and end in the same place. The passage is from Aaron’s Priestly Prayer, used in both Christian and Jewish Services:

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

To hear more of the story and get an early look at Mr. Zeitz’s project, head to the Hebrew Center, 130 Centre street in Vineyard Haven, on June 16.