Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

A place of contemplation, a place of remembrance and warning. Close to the Brandenburg Gate in the heart of Berlin you will find the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

The holocaust memorial

In 1999, after lengthy debates, the German parliament decided to establish a central memorial site, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The competition to design it was won by the New York architect Peter Eisenman. The memorial was ceremonially opened in 2005.

On a site covering 19,000 square metres, Eisenman placed 2710 concrete stelae of different heights. The area is open day and night and from all four sides you can fully immerse yourself in the fully accessible spatial structure. The memorial is on a slight slope and its wave-like form is different wherever you stand. The uneven concrete floor gives many visitor a moment of giddiness or even uncertainty. Its openness and abstractness give you space to confront the topic in your own personal way. The sheer size of the installation and its lack of a central point of remembrance call into question the conventional concept of a memorial. This creates a place of remembrance, but not with the usual means.

A place of information

The memorial to the Shoah is supplemented by the underground information centre, also designed by Eisenman. In a space covering 800 square metres you can find information on the victims and the locations. Themed rooms such as the Room of Dimensions, the Room of Families, the Room of Names and the Room of Sites deal with the fates of individuals, with photographs, diaries and farewell letters. Short biographies take the victims out of their anonymity. Historical photographs and film footage show the sites of persecution and extermination.

Information

The Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe offers guided tours in easy language. These last about 2.5 hours and currently cost from 60 euros. Up to 12 people can take part. Audio tours in easy language can be borrowed free of charge from the exhibition in the Information Centre. 

In addition to guided tours (currently from €60 per group), workshops for school classes are offered for currently from €140 per group.

Holocaust memorials in Berlin

Not far from the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe are two other memorials in Tiergarten commemorating the victims of National Socialism. A constantly changing violin tone draws attention to the Memorial to the Sinti and Roma of Europe Murdered under National Socialism, surrounded by glass walls and plants. Inside the massive concrete cube, erected as a memorial to homosexuals persecuted during the Nazi era, a tender same-sex love scene plays as a cinematic endless loop. And the murder of tens of thousands of patients from sanatoriums and nursing homes, as well as "racially" and socially undesirable people, is commemorated by a 24-meter-long transparent blue glass wall, including a permanent open-air exhibition documenting the history of the victims of the Nazi Euthanasia Program.

The former Sachsenhausen concentration camp, now a memorial site, is located in the outskirts of Berlin. At the Anne Frank Zentrum gives a deeper insight in Anne's life and the time she lived in and also offers various educational programms. you 

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