In the heart of Berlin, surrounded by offices, stores and embassies and within sight of both the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is a jarring contrast to the life around it. Intentionally so.
Its effect is jarring, breaking the space of a rebuilt and vibrant Berlin with a reminder of the events that cannot, or should not, be put completely in the past. It is not a thing of beauty.
Dedicated in 2005 on the 60th anniversary of the fall of the Third Reich, it occupies a site that was at administrative heart of the Nazi regime, and was later part of the 'death strip' along the Berlin Wall.
The 2,711 stelae of varying heights have been interpreted as coffins, or gravestones by many, with the lack of names symbolizing the many who died unknown. Others have seen it as isolating, and enabling visitors to grasp what loneliness, powerlessness and despair mean.
The designer, Peter Eisenman, said that the stones, whose number was determined only by the size of the space, are designed to produce an uneasy, confusing sense that represents a supposedly ordered system that had lost touch with human reason.
However you choose to understand it, you certainly can't ignore it, and certainly must come to terms with it in some way. A memorial that you can't ignore has certainly achieved its purpose!
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