This memorial is not traditional. It consists of 2700 concrete slabs and covers an area the size of four football fields. It’s meant to be dark, stark, and haunting. The monument, formally called The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, opened last May 10th, and is located just a short walk from the Brandenburg Gate.
Recent articles on the memorial indicate that there has been a mixed reaction to its design. The premise behind its design is that the monument should not be another “wreath-laying” monument but rather intended to convey the sheer enormity and scale of the horror of the Holocaust.
The dark gray slabs are sharp-edged, and are all of varying heights, some as high as 15 feet. “Many are placed off-kilter, like tombstones in a derelict graveyard”, to quote a recent article in Travel & Leisure. These concrete slabs take up an entire city block and are spaced only a few feet apart. Visitors are forced to move individually, single file, throughout the site. People can enter the memorial from either four streets that border the monument, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Visitors to the site appear to have mixed reactions to the design as well. Members of our group had similar reactions: one liked the monument; the others did not particularly care for it. Even the architects of the monument had different ideas as to how this event should be memorialized and designed. Still, other critics of the memorial say that the monument should honor all the victims who suffered the horrors of the Holocaust, such as Gypsies, others of persecuted religious faiths (Jehovah Witnesses, Catholics), gay-rights groups, etc, and not just the Jewish victims.
Sadly, the day of our visit, recent snowfall in Berlin precluded walking all of the monument. Still, it is a somber tribute to a horrific chapter in our world’s history. For me, the memorial achieved its intended effect.
No comments:
Post a Comment