Holocaust Memorial
The Holocaust Memorial is, as the name already suggests, a memorial to the 6 million Jews killed under the Nazi regime.
The Holocaust Memorial is located in the heart of Berlin, one block from the Brandenburg Gate, between the U.S. Embassy, Tiergarten Park and further down Potsdamer Platz.
History
The idea of building a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust was born as early as 1988, and in the following years discussions took place about where it should be built, what form it should take and what message it should convey. A public tender was issued and hundreds of proposals for a memorial were received.
It was not until June 1999 that the German parliament approved the construction of the Holocaust Memorial near the Brandenburg Gate. The winning design for the Holocaust Memorial is that of American architect Peter Eisenman.
Construction began in April 2003 and was completed in late 2004. On May 10, 2005, the memorial was dedicated as part of the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, and two days later it was opened to the public.
The memorial was built on an area of 19,000 square meters that was part of the “death strip” when the Berlin Wall existed.
The memorial consists of 2,711 dark gray, almost black, concrete blocks arranged in parallel rows under an undulating surface. These blocks are plain, containing no text, names, or photos. The blocks are 2.38 m long by 0.95 m wide and range in height from 0.2 m to 4.8 m.
Many of the paths formed are also undulating, causing some people to feel unsteady. And it seems that this was in fact the intention of the architect, who describes in the project text that the blocks were designed “to produce a confused and uneasy atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly orderly system that has lost touch with human reason.”
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The memorial also includes an 800-square-meter underground room called the “Information Site,” where the persecution and extermination of the Jews is documented. The exhibit features biographical details about individuals and families who were victims of the Holocaust.
Visiting the memorial is free of charge and the paths between the concrete blocks are accessible from different sides and you can walk freely between them. This part of the memorial is always accessible, which means that it is open day and night.
The “Place of Information” is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. from April to September and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. from October to March. It is closed on Mondays.
The Holocaust Memorial is controversial. Many people do not like the aesthetics of the place, saying that it looks like a cemetery with tombstones. It has also been the subject of much criticism regarding its size and shape, and the fact that it only remembers the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, forgetting other minorities who were also persecuted by the Nazis, such as the Sinti and Roma. This criticism led to the decision to build a small memorial for these victims.
Built in 2012, the memorial for the Sintés and Roma killed by the Nazis is located on Simsonweg in Tiergarten Park (between the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag). It is a fountain where a natural flower will be placed every day.
Also in the Tiergarten, in front of the Holocaust memorial, there is a memorial dedicated to the homosexuals persecuted during the Nazi regime. It is a simple memorial, a single concrete block (reminiscent of the Holocaust memorial blocks) 3.60 meters high and 1.90 meters wide with a screen embedded in a window showing a short scene of two men kissing.
How to get there
Address: Cora-Berliner-Straße 1 – Tiergarten, 10117 Berlin
S-Bahn: Lines S1, S2, S25, station S+U Brandenburger Tor
U-Bahn: Line U55, station S+U Brandenburger Tor
Bus: Line 200, stop Behrenstr./Wilhelmstr.; Line TXL, stop S+U Brandenburger Tor; Lines 100 and M85, stop Reichstag/Bundestag
https://www.stiftung-denkmal.de/
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