Between Reichstag and Potsdamer Platz – close to the American embassy in Berlin, Germany – you can find a highly controversial discussed memorial. 2711 steles made of concrete placed on an area of 19.000 m² serve as a monument for the victims of the Holocaust. They have different heights, some are slightly bent, they are protected with graffiti resistant coating and there is an information center underneath.
Young people often see this place as playground, not knowing what it means. It is like an invitation to play hide-and-seek or to climb onto the concrete. That is why there is a guard service and why some people find this memorial unsuitable for its topic. But if you come here in the early morning and let yourself float through the dark; if you get lost between the steles you can absolutely feel the message of this place.
It is a place of controlled fear, of uncertainty. A scarf within a modern city. And it is at the right place: close to the heart of Hitlers Germania, his center of power. It is a very unusual monument, because it gives the open-minded visitor the chance of feeling history without using one single word. And that is why I like this place.
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