[[Image:Jewishmemorialberlin.jpg|right|thumb|250px|The Memorial, Jan 2005.]] [[Image:Holocaust memorial tree.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Visitors walking among the steles.]] [[Image:HolocaustMahnmalLuft.jpg|right|thumb|250px|An aerial view of the Memorial site.]] The '''Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe''' ([[German language|German]]: ''Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas''), also known as the '''Holocaust Memorial''' (German: ''Holocaust-Mahnmal''), is a memorial in [[Berlin]] to the [[Jew]]ish victims of [[the Holocaust]], designed by architect [[Peter Eisenman]] and engineers [[Buro Happold]]. It consists of a 19,000 square meter (4.7 acre) site covered with 2,711 [[concrete]] slabs or "[[stele|stelae]]", arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field. The stelae are 2.38m (7.8') long, 0.95m (3' 1.5") wide and vary in height from 0.2m to 4.8m (8" to 15'9"). According to Eisenman's project text, the stelae are designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason. A 2005 copy of the Foundation for the Memorial's official English tourist pamphlet, however, states that the design represents a radical approach to the traditional concept of a memorial, partly because Eisenman did not use any symbolism. An attached underground "Place of Information" (German: ''Ort der Information'') holds the names of all known Jewish Holocaust victims, obtained from the [[Israeli]] [[museum]] [[Yad Vashem]]. Building began on [[April 1]], [[2003]] and was finished on [[December 15]], [[2004]]. It was inaugurated on [[May 10]], [[2005]] and opened to the public on [[May 12]] of the same year. It is located one block south of the [[Brandenburg Gate]], in the [[Friedrichstadt (Berlin)|Friedrichstadt]] neighborhood. The location of the memorial was the site of the [[Reich Chancellery]] of [[Adolf Hitler]] during the [[Nazi Germany|Third Reich]]. The cost of construction was approximately [[Euro|€]]25 million. ==History== German journalist [[Lea Rosh]] was the driving force behind the memorial. In [[1989]], she founded a group to support its construction and to collect donations. With growing support, the [[Bundestag]] passed a resolution in favor of the project. ===First competition=== In April [[1994]] a competition for its design was announced in Germany's major newspapers. Twelve artists were specifically invited to submit a design and given 50,000 DM (€ 25,000) to do so. The only rules and guidelines given were that building the project could only cost up to 15 million DM (€ 7.5 million). The winning proposal was to be selected by a jury consisting of representatives from the fields of [[art]], [[architecture]], [[urban design]], [[history]], [[politics]] and [[administration]]. It included a few minor celebrities such as [[Frank Schirrmacher]], co-editor of the [[Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung]]. The deadline for the proposals was [[October 28]]. On [[May 11]], an information colloquium took place in Berlin, where people interested in submitting a design could receive some more information about the nature of the memorial to be designed. [[Ignatz Bubis]], the president of the [[Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland]], and [[Wolfgang Nagel]], the construction senator of Berlin, spoke at the event. Leggewie/Meyer 2005 pg. 91-94 Before the deadline, the documents required to submit a proposal were requested over 2600 times and 528 proposals were submitted. The jury met on [[January 15]], [[1995]] in order to pick the best submission. First, [[Walter Jens]], the president of the [[Akademie der Künste]] was elected chairman of the jury. In the following days, all but 13 submissions were eliminated from the race in several rounds of looking through all works. As had already been arranged, the jury met again on [[March 15]]. 11 submissions were restored to the race as requested by several jurors, after they had had a chance to review the eliminated works in the months in between the meetings. Two works were then recommended by the jury to the foundation to be checked as to whether they could be completed within the price range given. One was designed by a group around the architect [[Simon Ungers]] from [[Hamburg]]; it consisted of 85x85 m square consisting of steel girders on top of concrete blocks located on the corners. The names of several [[extermination camp]]s would perforated into the girders, so that these would be projected onto objects or people in the area by sunlight. The other winner was a design [[Christine Jackob-Marks]]. Her concept consisted of 100x100 m large concrete plate, 7 meters thick. It would be tilted rising up to 11 meters and walkable on special paths. The names of the Jewish victims of the Holocaust would be engraved into the concrete, with spaces left empty for those victims whose names remain unknown. Large pieces of debris from [[Massada]], a fort in [[Israel]], whose Jewish inhabitants killed themselves in order to avoid being captured or killed by the Roman soldiers rushing in, would be spread over the concrete plate.Leggewie/Meyer 2005 pg. 96-100 These plans would eventually be vetoed by Chancellor [[Helmut Kohl]]. Peter Eisenman's plan emerged as the winner of the next competition in November 1997. In June 1998, a large majority of the Bundestag decided in favor of Eisenman's plan, modified by attaching a museum, or "place of information", which was then also designed by Eisenman. Across the street from the northern boundary of the memorial is the site of the new [[Embassy of the United States in Berlin]], which is due for completion in 2008. For a while issues over 'set-back' for U.S. embassy construction impacted upon the memorial. Construction of the memorial started in April 2003. ===Degussa incident=== On [[October 14]], [[2003]], the [[Switzerland|Swiss]] newspaper [[Tages-Anzeiger]] published a few articles presenting as a scandal the fact that the [[Degussa]] company was involved in the construction of the memorial producing the anti-[[graffiti]] substance [[Protectosil]] used to cover the steles, because the company had been involved in several different ways in the National-Socialist persecution of the Jews. A subsidiary company of Degussa, Degesch, even produced the [[Zyklon B]] used to poison people in the [[gas chamber]]s. At first these articles did not receive much attention, until the curatorium (board of trustees) dealing with the construction discussed this situation on [[October 23]] and, after turbulent and controversial discussions, decided to stop construction immediately until a decision was made. Primarily it was representatives of the Jewish community who had called for an end to Degussa's involvement, while the politicians in the curatiorium such as [[Wolfgang Thierse]] did not want to stop construction and lose money because of this. They also said it would be impossible to exclude all German companies involved in the Nazi crimes, because – as Thierse put it – "the past protudes into [the German] society".Original quote: "Die Vergangenheit ragt in unsere Gesellschaft hinein". Quoted according to Leggewie/Meyer 2005 pg. 294. [[Lea Rosh]], who also supported an exclusion of Degussa, answered to this that "the boundary is totally clearly Zyklon B."Original quote: "Die Grenze ist ganz klar Zykon B". Quoted according to Leggewie/Meyer 2005 pg. 294. In the discussions that followed several things were discovered. For one, it turned out that it was not a coincidence that the involvement of Degussa was publicized in [[Switzerland]], because another company that had bid to produce the anti-graffiti substance was located there. Further, it was discovered that the foundation managing the construction, as well as Lea Rosh, had known about Degussa's involvement for at least a year but had not done anything to stop it. Rosh then claimed she had not known about the connections between Degussa and Degesch. It also turned out that another Degussa subsidiary, Woerman Bauchemie GmbH, had already poured the foundation for the steles. The Tages-Anzeiger also reported that Degussa had offered the anti-graffiti substance for an especially cheap price in order to sponsor the memorial. A problem with excluding Degussa from the project was that many of the steles had already been covered with Degussa's product. These would have to be destroyed if another company were to be used instead. The cost of this would be around € 2.34 million. In the course of the discussions about what to do, which lasted until [[November 13]], most of the Jewish organizations including the [[Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland]] spoke out against working with Degussa, while the architect Peter Eisenman, for example, supported it. On November 13, the decision was then made to continue working with the company; a decision which was heavily criticized. [[Henryk M. Broder]], for example, said that "the Jews don't need this memorial, and they are not prepared to designate a mess as [[kosher]]."Original quote: "Die Juden brauchen dieses Mahnmal nicht, und sind nicht bereit, eine Schweinerei als koscher zu erklären." Quoted according to Leggewie/Meyer 2005 pg. 296.Leggewie/Meyer 2005 pg. 287-300 On [[December 15]], [[2004]] the memorial was finished. It was dedicated on [[May 10]], [[2005]] as part of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of [[Victory in Europe Day|V-E Day]] and opened to the public two days later. It is estimated that approximately 3.5 million visitors entered the memorial in the first year it was open, i.e. about 10,000 every day. About 490,000 people also visited the underground "place of information", with about 40% of these being non-Germans. The foundation operating the memorial considered this a success; its head [[Uwe Neumärker]] even called the memorial a "tourist magnet". However, [[swastika]]s were drawn on the stelae on 5 different occasions in this first year. {{de icon}}Wefing, Heinrich. "[http://www.faz.net/s/RubEBED639C476B407798B1CE808F1F6632/Doc~EF6F17E8C423A4F14BEC25872E68A03A1~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html Sehr populär und knapp bei Kasse]" in [[Frankfurter Allgemeneine Zeitung|FAZ]]. [[May 9]], [[2006]]. Retrieved [[May 17]], [[2006]]. ==Additional photos== {{Commons}} Image:Berlin - Holocaust Memorial 004.JPG|
A view between the steles.
Image:Holocaust Mahnmal Berlin Stelenfeld.jpg|
The Memorial in spring 2004.
Image:BerlinStelae.jpg|
Stelae in evening sunlight.
Image:Stelaetop.jpg|
Field of Stelae.
 ==Criticisms== The German organization "Roma and Sinti" has criticized the monument for singling out the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, without mentioning the [[Porajmos|murdered Roma and Sinti]], [[Jehovah's Witnesses and the Holocaust|Jehovah's Witnesses]], [[History of gays in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust|homosexuals]], [[Communist Party of Germany|communists]] and [[political prisoner]]s. Many believe that, instead of spending money on a new memorial, federal funds would have been better spent in supporting pre-existing memorial institutions in Germany and abroad. Just as the Central Council for the Sinti and Roma in Germany criticized the memorial for institutionalizing a hierarchy of the victims of Nazism, some staff at maintained Nazi concentration and death camps (for example) believed that the expensive new monument in Berlin would eclipse other important national, and international, memorial institutions pertaining to the Third Reich and Nazism. In 1998, German novelist Martin Walser cited the Holocaust Memorial in his public condemnation of Germany's "Holocaust industry." Walser decried the "exploitation of our disgrace for present purposes." He criticized the "monumentalization", and "ceaseless presentation of our shame." "Take all the towns in the world", said Walser. "Check whether in any of these towns there is a memorial of national ignominy. I have never seen such. The Holocaust is not an appropriate subject of a memorial and such memorials should not be constructed..." The "place of information" has been criticized as breaking with the tradition of having informational museums attached directly to various German Holocaust sites. Many disability support groups have criticised the fact that the memorial is not entirely wheelchair accessible; however, there are different wheelchair accessible routes through the memorial and an elevator down to the information center. Nowhere inside the memorial, or around it, does it say what it commemorates. However, many say this is deliberate, to add to the sense of unease and to encourage visitors to reach their own conclusions. The liberal [[rabbi]] of the Jewish community in Berlin, Chaim Rozwaski, criticized the memorial saying that "one should leave the Jews in peace, the dead and the living.Emmerich, Marlies."[http://www.berlinonline.de/dossier/holocaust-mahnmal/2005/blz_26232.html Stilfragen]". Retrieved [[May 13]], [[2006]]. ==Notes== ==References== *{{de icon}}Leggewie, Claus/Meyer, Erik: "»Ein Ort, an den man gerne geht«". Carl Hanser Verlag. 2005. ISBN 3-446-20586-1 ==See also== *[[Memorial to Polish Soldiers and German Anti-Fascists]] *[[Soviet War Memorial (Treptower Park)]] ==External links== * [http://www.holocaust-mahnmal.de/ Home page of the project] * [http://www.stadtpanoramen.de/en/berlin/holocaust_memorial.html Holocaust Memorial Panorama] * [http://j.nadroj.free.fr/holocauste1-.html Photographs of the memorial] {{Geolinks-buildingscale|52.513923|13.378344}} [[Category:Holocaust museums]] [[Category:Monuments and memorials in Germany]] [[Category:Buildings and structures in Berlin]] [[cs:Židovský památník (Berlín)]] [[de:Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas]] [[eo:Memorejo por la murditaj judoj de Eŭropo]] [[fr:Mémorial de l'Holocauste]] [[he:אנדרטה לזכר יהודי אירופה שנרצחו (ברלין)]] [[nl:Holocaust-Mahnmal]] [[ru:Мемориал памяти жертв Холокоста в Берлине]] [[sv:Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas]]