Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
Visiting Berlin’s Controversial Holocaust Memorial
Oct 10, 2008
Rows of gray slabs slowly rise out of the concrete like marching soldiers, rail cars or gravestones. Each block has the same width and length but different heights and inclines.
The first blocks on the edge are level with the sidewalk. They begin to rise until in the middle, the tallest stelae is 4.7 meters. This is the memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe, though there is no obvious sign that says so.
Monument Competition
In June of 1999 the German government passed a proposal to build a memorial for Jewish victims of the Holocaust at this location. No one knew what it should look like, so a contest was held.
American architect Peter Eisenman’s design of 2,711 slabs won the contest. Construction began in April 2003 and was completed in December 2004. It cost 27.6 million Euros, an amount many criticized as too high for a field of stelae.
Why Here?
The memorial’s location has no special significance to Jewish history, yet another fact that leads to debate. Before and during World War II, the offices of the Ministry for Nutrition stood here. During Berlin’s division, the area was part of the “death strip” that existed along the Berlin wall. After the wall fell, the land remained unused until the memorial’s construction began.
The second place proposal was to run a free bus service from the site to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp just outside of Berlin. But it was argued that the people who would use the bus service would have already planned to visit the camp. The city wanted to reach the people who wouldn’t take the time to learn about the Holocaust.
The memorial is located between the economic center of Berlin, Potsdamer Platz, and the government district, comprised of parliament, its offices and embassies. One block north of the memorial is the Brandenburg Gate, an area full of tourists. All of these people pass the memorial daily; therefore, everyone must confront the tragedies of the past.
Just a Field of Blocks?
The architect Eisenman has never said what the slabs represent, preferring to leave its meaning vague and subjective. He did say that the Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague inspired him, but the slabs do not represent gravestones.
Many interpretations have been made about what the slabs represent. Some say train cars bringing Jewish prisoners to the concentration camps, German soldiers or caskets. Another popular interpretation is that the stelae are like a bar chart of persecution. Just as the slabs start so low that they are hardly noticeable, so began anti-Semitism. It starts with a joke or comment that people pay little attention to. But like the slabs do, it grows, with rules like Jewish children can’t go to school with other children, and grows, with the Night of Broken Glass, and grows, until it’s at its height with the final solution.
Walking Through
Visitors are expected to walk through the memorial, which is also a very personal experience. As one walks deeper into the memorial, the floor drops and becomes uneven. It is more difficult to hear outside noises. Some people feel claustrophobic or cold. People run into each other because it is difficult to see around corners. One never knows what is coming next, and people often describe the memorial as disorienting.
Many interpret this disorientation as symbolism for how a Jew during the time of the Nazis would feel. But others walk through and don’t feel anything. Children are often running or playing on the slabs, something interpreted by many as disrespectful. Not only can people easily disrespect the memorial because it is so abstract, but with few signage visitors can also easily remain ignorant of what it is.
Information Center
To counteract this ignorance, a free information center lies underneath the memorial. It is closed on Mondays. The center has a database of all the Jewish victims of the Holocaust and also provides in-depth stories of a few victims.
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