Holocaust Memorial, Berlin

Built on former no-man's land separating East and West Berlin, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe stands roughly between the Brandenburg Gate and the site of Hitler's bunker. It was designed by American architect Peter Eisenmann and consists of 2,711 stone steles, or slabs, of varying height.

The slabs and columns cover an open space of 4.7 acres, which can be approached from all sides and walked around, and in, freely.

The memorial was first proposed in 1988 by a German Jewish journalist, Lea Rosh. Berlin authorities rejected an initial plan in which an enormous, tilting gravestone, the size of two soccer pitches, would be inscribed with the names of all the victims of the Holocaust. They later approved American architect Peter Eisenmann's wholly abstract plan for the field of unmarked coffin- and column-like slabs.

Eisenmann's plan took about four years to build and was frequently criticized exactly because it was so utterly abstract. It was also criticized because it made no reference to the other ethnic groups included in the Nazi genocide--homosexuals, communists, gypsies, to name a few. But the German Government defended and insisted upon a memorial specifically for the six million murdered Jews. In the final plan, Eisenmann added an underground visitor's center where the names of all the victims are written.

 Tomorrow, I'l start to give you my impressions of the memorial.

Tags: photography