Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is Germany's central memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, a vast field of some two thousand seven hundred grey concrete slabs of varying heights, rising and falling across undulating ground near the Brandenburg Gate. Visitors can walk the narrow corridors between the slabs, and beneath it an information centre records the victims and their fate.

Background

The memorial was designed by the architect Peter Eisenman with Buro Happold and covers a 1.9-hectare site with 2,711 concrete stelae in a grid on sloping ground. Nearly 4,000 slabs were first planned, but 2,711 was the number that could legally fit. Each stele is 2.38 m long and 0.95 m wide, and the heights vary from 0.2 to 4.7 metres. Work began on 1 April 2003 and ended on 15 December 2004, and it was inaugurated on 10 May 2005 at a cost of about €25 million. The underground Place of Information holds the names of about 3 million Jewish victims, obtained from Yad Vashem.

Source: Wikipedia, "Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe"

Highlights

• The field of stelae - the vast grid of grey concrete slabs to walk among.
• The undulating ground - the disorienting rise and fall of the paths between them.
• The information centre - the underground exhibition recording the victims.
• The setting - the memorial's place in the heart of the capital.

When to go

Year-round; the outdoor field is open at all times and free, while the underground information centre keeps museum hours. It is a place for quiet reflection at any season.

Things to know

It is a place of mourning and remembrance; climbing or playing on the slabs is discouraged. The underground information centre, which tells the stories of individual victims, has limited hours and a security check.

Nearby

The Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag are a short walk; the Tiergarten spreads nearby.

Key facts