The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. In my previous post, I mentioned about going on a walking tour in Berlin, and passing the holocaust memorial to the murdered jews. This memorial is located in within the central of city, a stone's throw away from the Brandenburg Gate, and unlike many memorials, it has no explanation, no names, nothing. Just rows of grey slabs.Many people have criticised the design of this memorial, and the designer himself never revealed the thought process or the reasons behind his design. Guess this is a way of making people think, and interpret it on their own.
I've seen pictures of it from an aerial view, and from high up above, the slabs look even. Somewhat like a grid. However from the ground, you would know that they aren't the same height.
As you walk through the memorial, the floor undulates and the pillars get taller. Less light gets in, and it just gives you the feeling of being trapped.
I thought it felt a lot like being in a concentration camp. There is no way out, and everywhere you turn looks the same. Your days unending, going on the same ritual, not knowing when you'll be released or when you'd be out.
A memorial like this, its hard to judge base on its design.
Somehow walking through it weighs your heart down. I don't know what it is, and its pretty hard to pinpoint exactly, but you feel a sense of lost and heaviness.
Initially, I thought it looked a lot like a graveyard. I thought it was rude of the people who climbed on top of the slabs moving from one to another trying to take photographs, or kids playing hide and seek around the pillars.
Maybe thats just me. But it felt like stones, grave stones with no names. Because people out there, in the world, nobody knew what happened to you. Once you're in a concentration camp, nobody knew if you were alive or dead. The bodies don't make it out, and you don't have a home, a burial, a resting place. Your grave would be something like an empty stone. If you would even have one.
Like I said before, I don't know much about the history of the world war 2, not an expert on architecture and memorials either, but well, I just felt like sharing some of my thoughts on this in a separate post. This memorial, doesn't appear striking, or beautiful, its so easy to overlook it, but yet holds such deep meaning. Depending on how you interpret it. It really makes you think.
What do you think of a memorial like this? Do you think it served it's purpose as a memorial? Comment below!
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