Berlin Holocaust Memorial

After touring all the dark side of Nazi Germany in Berlin on Thursday, we crossed the street to a more peaceful, more hopeful site: the Holocaust Memorial. The memorial consists of over 2700 concrete slabs of different sizes spread out over a square city block. The blocks range from small crypt like blocks to very large blocks maybe twice the size of a man. While, they're all different sizes, they appear about the same height from above as they're placed on uneven ground. As you can see in the photo they lean in a little to give the sense of being all alone and the world closing in around you. The uneven ground is meant to give the same impression.

Our guide told us the memorial has sparked different views about how it should be treated. The more conservative feel that its a memorial to the dead and should be treated with solemnity. The more liberal think that its a memorial for future generations and they should be allowed to interact with it however they feel including sunning themselves on the blocks or playing hide-and-seek amongst them. I noticed one of the former walking around the memorial telling picture-taking tourists to get off the blocks and kids to stop horsing around on them.

Our guide also told us about a scandal that arose during construction. The company contracted to provide the anti-graffiti coating turned out to be a supporter of the Nazis. In fact, they had supplied the Zyklon-B used in the gas chambers. Construction was halted until they figured out what to do. Our guide told us that in the end they decided to go forward with the project as this company was open about its past instead of trying to hide it and it would be impossible to remove all companies that were associated with Nazi Germany anyway. For a different take, follow the link above and read the Wikipedia article on the memorial.