Holocaust Memorial
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Controversial yet strangely beautiful, Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial was officially unveiled in May 2005.
Called the Monument to the Murdered Jews in Europe, it had been timed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the fall of the Nazi regime and the end of the Second World War.
The unique memorial was designed by American architect Peter Eisenmann and is made up of 2,711 grey stone slabs. Each block is a different size and has been placed in a wave-like pattern to commemorate the six million European Jews that died at the hands of Hitler.
There is no set pattern to the memorial and visitors are invited to walk among the slabs however they please, but whether you do it while chatting to friends or having a quiet moment of remembrance, it's hugely moving in a way that's hard to explain.
An information centre next to the memorial has stories about some of the families who faced the wrath of the Nazis, as well as information about the memorial’s design.
Eisenmann said that he wanted to create "a feeling of groundlessness and instability; a sense of disorientation" in his work, and most visitors to the memorial are struck by just that. It’s well worth a visit.
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Holocaust Memorial
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