May 11, 2005

Remembering Holocaust Victims

Germany opens its first official memorial to the nearly 6 million Jews killed during the Holocaust

Guests visit the underground exhibit at Germany's national Holocaust memorial.

By Jill Egan

German officials have just opened a new Holocaust memorial in Berlin, the nation’s capital. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe opens to the public on Thursday. It is Germany’s first official memorial to the nearly 6 million Jews who were killed during the Holocaust between 1933 and 1945.

Guests walk through the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe after the memorial's inauguration in Berlin.

At the dedication ceremony on Tuesday, Germany’s Parliament President Wolfgang Thierse said the memorial shows that Germany “faces up to its history."

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Jewish leaders and Holocaust survivors also attended the ceremony.

A Lasting Memory
Designed by American architect Peter Eisenman, the memorial is made of 2,711 hollow concrete slabs, or stelae. Set on uneven ground, the stelae rise 15 feet high in some places. The stelae, Eisenman said, are meant to express the “very ordinariness that those who were murdered were about.”

The memorial took 17 years and $36 million to build. Below the concrete slabs is an underground information center with photos, text and audio about what happened to Jews during the Holocaust. Eisenman said he hopes the memorial will “establish a permanent memory of what happened.”

Remembering Non-Jews Killed in the Holocaust
Not everyone thinks the memorial was the best way to remember Holocaust victims. Author Rafael Seligmann said that instead of building a memorial, more money should be spent educating Germans about the Holocaust. A recent poll published in a German newspaper found that about half of Germans younger than 24 say they don’t know much about the Holocaust.

Others pointed out that the memorial was only dedicated to Jews. They worry that the world will forget the about 5 million non-Jews who were also killed during the Holocaust.

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