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The Week in Germany: Culture

May 11, 2007

Travel: Berlin Holocaust Memorial Proves a Big Attraction

The Memorial in spring.

The undulating concrete blocks covering an area as big as three football fields made a lasting impression on Dorit, an Israel visitor.

"We really appreciate it that you, Germany, are now commemorating our people and our families," she wrote in the visitors' book at the Holocaust memorial in Berlin.

"Any person who is not deeply touched by this exhibition is not alive," said a German woman in remarks written directly next to those of the Israeli.

These are just two voices from the millions of people who come each year to see what has become one of the most popular attractions in the German capital.

Since its opening on May 10, 2005, an estimated seven to eight million tourists have strolled through the maze-like monument to the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis.

In the adjacent underground information center, and a "Room of Names" where 3.5 million known Holocaust victims are documented on a computer database, the one millionth visitor is expected by June.

The Memorial at night.

"We never imagined that so many people would come," said journalist Lea Rosh, one of the initiators of the memorial designed by US architect Peter Eisenman.

The 2,711 dark grey slabs that make up the monument look like an ocean that appears to rise and fall, depending on the light and weather conditions.

Eisenman said he wanted his design to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere that is open to interpretation. Visitors say it reminds them of different things, including a cornfield or a cemetery.

For Edelhard Callies from Bremen, the 2,711 slabs ranging in height from 20 centimeters to nearly 5 meters remind him of the Nazi era, when anti-Semitism slowly spread through German society.

"It all started from very humble beginnings at that time," he said. (dpa)

Links:

Holocaust Memorial Opens in Berlin (NPR, with photo gallery)

Jewish Museum Berlin

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Federal Interagency Holocaust Remembrance Observed in Washington (TWIG, May 4, 2007)

"For the dead and the living we must bear witness" (TWIG, Jan. 26, 2007)

National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of National Socialism
(Germany.info)

Opening of New Synagogue in Munich (Germany.info)

First Rabbis Ordained in Germany in 64 Years (TWIG, Sept. 15, 2006)

Jewish Life in Germany (Germany.info)

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