Holocaust Memorial Berlin
History, Experience, Meaning and the 2711 Stelae
What Is the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin?
The Holocaust Memorial is Germany’s central memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe. It was built according to a design by American architect Peter Eisenman and opened on May 10, 2005.
The approximately 19,000-square-meter Field of Stelae is located south of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin-Mitte. Beneath part of the memorial is the Place of Information, which features an exhibition on the persecution and murder of European Jews.
What Do the 2711 Stelae of the Holocaust Memorial Mean?
The 2711 concrete stelae have no fixed individual symbolism, and according to the Memorial Foundation, their exact number has no symbolic meaning either. Instead, Peter Eisenman designed an abstract memorial site whose uneven ground and varying heights of the stelae can be experienced differently by each visitor.
Originally, around 4000 stelae were planned; later changes to the design reduced the number to 2711. Interpretations of the stelae as gravestones, sarcophagi or symbolic graves certainly exist.
However, there is no official meaning assigned to the individual stelae.
Holocaust Memorial Berlin: Facts at a Glance
- Official name: Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
- Location: Berlin-Mitte, south of the Brandenburg Gate
- Architect: Peter Eisenman
- Construction began: April 2003
- Opened: May 10, 2005
- Open to the public since: May 12, 2005
- Area: approximately 19,000 square meters
- Stelae: 2711
- Height: from ground level to approximately 4.7 meters
- Exhibition: underground Place of Information
Alright, friends,
I think the first time I went there must have been in 2006.
I grew up in Berlin-Friedrichshain around Warschauer Straße, near Oberbaum bridge and Frankfurter Tor, and like probably quite a few Berlin schoolkids, we regularly went on school trips around the city back then.
One of them took us to the recently opened Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.
Looking back today, I have to admit: back then, it probably just wasn’t the right time for us yet.
Why Was the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin Built?
The Holocaust Memorial grew out of calls for a central memorial in the German capital to commemorate the murdered Jews of Europe.
From the first initiative in the late 1980s to its opening, almost two decades passed, marked by political and public debate.
The decisive push came from publicist Lea Rosh in 1988. She initially proposed building a memorial on the site of the former Gestapo headquarters in Kreuzberg and, together with historian Eberhard Jäckel, published an appeal for the project in 1989.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the former Ministerial Gardens became the focus as a possible location. The federal government under Helmut Kohl began supporting the initiative in 1992 and made part of the site available.
But that only settled the question of whether a memorial should be built. How Germany should commemorate the murdered Jews of Europe remained controversial for years.
From the First Competition to Peter Eisenman’s Design
It took two design competitions, hundreds of proposals and several revisions to arrive at the Field of Stelae we see today.
It was only during the second competition that the design by Peter Eisenman and Richard Serra emerged as the favorite.
The first competition in 1994 received 528 submissions. A design by an artists’ group led by Christine Jackob-Marks was eventually selected as the favorite: a huge sloping concrete surface engraved with the names of the victims. Chancellor Helmut Kohl rejected its implementation in 1995.
A new competition followed in 1997, with 25 invited architects and artists. Alongside designs by Gesine Weinmiller, Jochen Gerz and Daniel Libeskind, the Field of Stelae by Peter Eisenman and Richard Serra attracted particular attention.
Serra left the project in 1998, while Eisenman continued to develop the design. It ultimately became the basis for the memorial that stands in central Berlin today.
The Bundestag Decides on the Holocaust Memorial
On June 25, 1999, the German Bundestag voted 312 to 207 in favor of building the Holocaust Memorial based on Peter Eisenman’s modified design.
At the same time, it was decided to complement the abstract Field of Stelae with an underground Place of Information.
There were also differing views within the Bundestag. Some members wanted the funds to go to existing memorial sites dedicated to Nazi crimes, while others wanted the planned memorial to commemorate all victims of the Nazi regime.
The majority deliberately chose a memorial dedicated to the murdered Jews of Europe.
This is also where the official name Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe comes from.
Why Was the Holocaust Memorial So Controversial?
The years of controversy focused primarily on the form, size, location and purpose of a central Holocaust memorial.
There was also debate over whether a central memorial in Berlin could overshadow other groups of victims and existing memorial sites at the historic locations of Nazi crimes.
Representatives of concentration camp memorial sites warned against centralizing remembrance. Other critics objected to the monumentality or abstract architecture. Supporters, on the other hand, saw a visible memorial in Germany’s political center as an important statement.
The debate was therefore about far more than concrete and architecture. It touched on the fundamental question of how Germany should remember the Holocaust.
Later, separate memorials were created in Berlin for other persecuted and murdered groups, including the Sinti and Roma of Europe and homosexuals persecuted under National Socialism.
Why Is the Holocaust Memorial Located Here?
The Holocaust Memorial stands in the immediate vicinity of the former political center of power of the German Reich. At the same time, the site itself carries several layers of German history – from National Socialism and the Berlin Wall to the memorial site it is today.
Before World War II, the area was part of the so-called Ministerial Gardens. Joseph Goebbels’ city villa stood on part of what is now the memorial site. During construction, his bunker was rediscovered, documented and then sealed underground.
Between 1961 and 1989, the site was also located within the border zone of the Berlin Wall, in the so-called death strip.
Anyone walking from the Holocaust Memorial toward the Brandenburg Gate or Museum Island today is therefore moving through a part of Berlin where completely different chapters of German history come together within a remarkably small area.
What Effect Is the Field of Stelae Meant to Have?
The Holocaust Memorial is not meant to prescribe any particular emotion.
Eisenman’s architecture uses narrow spaces, uneven ground, varying heights and a lack of orientation – how this space affects you is left up to each individual visitor.
All the stelae have the same dimensions of 2.38 by 0.95 meters, but range from almost ground level to around 4.7 meters in height. The paths between them are also only 95 centimeters wide. At the same time, the ground rises and falls.
The further you walk into certain parts of the memorial, the more the streets, people and the Berlin outside begin to disappear from view.
And this is exactly where I have to think back to our school trip.
There we were, around 30 twelve-year-olds, standing in front of this sea of concrete stelae. At that point, we hadn’t had history lessons yet, nor had we studied the Holocaust and Nazi crimes in detail.
To us, at first, there were simply pillars of different heights and narrow paths.
So we played tag and hid between them.
Not out of disrespect. In our childhood naivety, we simply didn’t yet understand where we were.
It was only when I got older that I realized what kind of effect this memorial can have. How your perception changes as you walk into it, the stelae grow taller and the outside world disappears.
For me, this place has an energy today that can trigger something both physically and mentally.
Why Is the Place of Information Part of the Holocaust Memorial?
The underground Place of Information complements the abstract Field of Stelae with real historical stories. The exhibition documents the persecution and murder of European Jews and focuses on individual people behind the almost unimaginable number of around six million victims.
Designed by Dagmar von Wilcken, the exhibition consists of four themed rooms. Family stories show different aspects of Jewish life that were destroyed by the Holocaust, while short biographies tell the stories of people who were murdered or went missing. In the Room of Names, the names and life stories of Holocaust victims are read aloud.
Together, the two parts of the memorial complement each other: above ground is an abstract architectural space without a single clear interpretation. Below ground, the victims are given names, biographies and personal stories.
Perhaps this context would have helped us as twelve-year-olds back then to better understand where we were actually standing.
Why Was Construction of the Holocaust Memorial Stopped in 2003?
Construction was temporarily halted in 2003 after it became known that products from Degussa were to be used for the anti-graffiti protection of the stelae. Its subsidiary Degesch had produced Zyklon B during the Nazi era.
Lea Rosh then wanted to exclude Degussa from the project. The decision was controversial, however: critics pointed, among other things, to the company’s efforts to address its Nazi past and to the fact that another subsidiary had already supplied additional material for the memorial.
In November 2003, the board of trustees of the Memorial Foundation decided to continue construction using Degussa products.
On December 15, 2004, the last of the 2711 stelae was finally installed.
When Was the Holocaust Memorial Opened?
The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe was officially opened on May 10, 2005, and opened to the public on May 12. This marked the end of a process that had begun with the initiative in the late 1980s.
Alongside political representatives, Holocaust survivors also attended the opening ceremony.
More than 3.5 million people visited the memorial in its first year alone; by the end of 2005, around 350,000 people had visited the Place of Information.
Within a very short time, the Field of Stelae became not only part of Germany’s culture of remembrance, but also part of everyday life in Berlin. And that is exactly what sparked a debate that remains visible to this day.
Can You Sit on the Stelae or Play at the Holocaust Memorial?
The Field of Stelae is open to the public, and Peter Eisenman himself expected people to use the space as part of everyday life. Even so, dancing or climbing on the stelae, having picnics or staging social media photos are repeatedly criticized as disrespectful.
I’ve often seen people dancing on the stelae, filming TikTok videos or having breakfast there.
And I can hardly stand here and claim that I’ve always visited this place with the necessary understanding. I played tag there myself as a child.
For me, the difference is the awareness behind it.
In 2017, German-Israeli artist Shahak Shapira brought this debate to international attention with his project Yolocaust.
He combined selfies taken at the memorial with historical images of mass graves and concentration camp prisoners. The project reached millions of people within a short period of time and showed pretty brutally just how wide the gap can become between a place of remembrance and its use as a photo spot.
How Should You Visit the Holocaust Memorial?
The best way to visit the Holocaust Memorial is to take your time and understand what this place commemorates. Walking through the Field of Stelae and then visiting the Place of Information gives you a different perspective than simply stopping at the edge for a quick photo.
I don’t want to give you a set of rules for how to behave. Even Eisenman explicitly did not want to create an isolated sacred space and accepted that the Field of Stelae would become part of everyday city life.
Still, I recommend entering this place with care.
Walk in. Take your time. Don’t experience it only through your camera. And if you have the chance, visit the Place of Information as well.
Berlin has countless insider tips, restaurants, clubs and places where you can simply have a good time. But if you really want to understand this city, there’s no getting around its history either.
Visiting the Holocaust Memorial: Location and Important Information
The memorial is located in Berlin-Mitte between Ebertstraße, Behrenstraße, Cora-Berliner-Straße and Hannah-Arendt-Straße, just a few minutes’ walk from the Brandenburg Gate.
The Field of Stelae can be accessed from several sides; thirteen pathways are suitable for people with limited mobility and wheelchair users and are marked accordingly.
The Nikolaiviertel, Red town hall, Museum Island and Hackesche Höfe are also located within Berlin’s wider historic center.
- The Field of Stelae is accessible around the clock.
- The Place of Information is currently open Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
- Admission is free.
You should still check the latest opening hours and access information for the underground Place of Information directly with the Memorial Foundation before your visit.
Is the Holocaust Memorial Worth Visiting?
Yes – although “worth visiting” is actually the wrong way to put it when talking about a Holocaust memorial. I don’t recommend this place because it is beautiful, entertaining or spectacular, but because it makes an important part of German history and its culture of remembrance visible.
When I stood there with my school class around 2006, I didn’t really know what to make of this place. Today, I walk through it differently.
The memorial itself hasn’t fundamentally changed. My understanding of it has.
Perhaps that is exactly where part of its strength lies. The 2711 stelae don’t tell you what you are supposed to feel. Without context, they can simply be concrete blocks. Once you understand why they are there and who this place commemorates, your perspective changes.
That’s why I wouldn’t simply squeeze the Holocaust Memorial in between sightseeing stops and the next item on your Berlin itinerary.
Give this place the time it deserves.
Berlin is not a tourist attraction. Berlin is a city.
See you in the real Berlin – or right here in the next blog.
Take care 🖤
SOURCES: BOOK "Holocaust Mahnmal Berlin" BY LARS MÜLLER | WEBSITE "STIFTUNG-DENKMAL.DE" | WEBSITE "HOLOCAUST-DENKMAL-BERLIN.DE" | MOST IMAGES IN THIS POST ARE EXAMPLE IMAGES AND ARE NOT FROM THE LOCATION VISITED.
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