Holocaust Memorials

Outside of the Reichstag Building is a memorial to the 96 politicians who were murdered because their beliefs did not align with Hitler and the Nazi Party. They were members of the ill-fated Wiemar Republic, the weak post WWI attempt at German democracy. Most of the 96 politicians were members of the Communist or Socialist party; they were murdered in concentration camps.

Each slab of the memorial represents one man; on each slab is the man's name, his party, his date of birth, and the date and location of death.


The next stop was the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This Holocaust memorial was completed in 2005 and is this first formal, government sponsored Holocaust memorial. Designed by Peter Eisenman, the 2711 concrete slabs vary in height and are arranged on an even surface. The interpretation of the memorial is left up to the visitor. Some view it as a symbolic cemetery; some think of it as a representation of how European Culture was changed. However, I doubt that it was ever intended for people to use it as a bus stop bench, a place to sit and talk on cell phones, or a playground for climbing all over.


Underneath the memorial is an information center containing 6 exhibits about the Holocaust.

1. Introduction - 12 years of the Nazis' extermination policy shown through text and pictures.
2. Room of Dimensions - written personal accounts of Jewish men and women - including postcards and letters thrown off trains on the way to extermination camps. This room also included the breakdown of murder Jews by country.
3. Room of Families- stories, pictures, letters, and writings of Jewish families and how the Holocaust affected them.
4. Room of Names - biographies of murdered Jews read aloud with their name , year of birth, and year of death projected on the walls. It would take over 6 and a half years to read through the entire database - names and stories are still being added.
   
5. Room of Sites - information on 220 sites of genocide.
6. The Holocaust Memorials.Database

While the spot for the memorial was chosen based on where there was room for lots of people to experience it, it lies within a historical area. The land was available here because the memorial is built on land that was once covered by the Berlin Wall. During the building of the memorial, Joseph Goebbels' (the leader of the Nazi propaganda machine) bunker was uncovered in the northwest corner of the memorial. Additionally, Hitler's bunker is less than 200 yards away. Both sites have been left buried so they do not turn into shrines for the neo-Nazis.

Since the focus of this memorial is the Jewish victims, the government has promised to build memorials to the other victims of the Holocaust as well. Behind the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is small memorial to the homosexual victims of the Holocaust; however, it was not government sponsored.

A Face Lift

Our city tour of Berlin started at the Reichstag Building - the most visited parliamentary building in the world. It was originally opened in 1894 to house the Parliament of the German Empire. In a little over a century the building has gone through as many changes as the country.
The burning of the building in 1933 was blamed on the Communists and the Nazi party was able to seize control and start suspending civil liberties.On April 30, 1945 more than 1500 Nazis made their last stand against Stalin and the Allied troops at the Reichstag Building. After the war, the capital was moved to Bonn and the building set in ruins just west of East Berlin.

Paul Baumgarten won an architectural contest to reconstruct the building and it was completed in 1964. Due to a 1971 Allies agreement Berlin could not serve as the capital of West Germany and so the building became largely ceremonial.

Germany was officially reunified at the Reichstag Building on October 3, 1990. After much heated debate it was decided the capital would return to Berlin and the building would be used once again.

Norman Foster reconstructed the building in 1992 under the theme of transparency. While the shell of the original building remains, the new building includes many glass walls, openness, and a new glass cupola. The idea was to create a building that was open and accessible to the people, so they could see their government at work.Today when you visit the Reichstag building you receive a 50+ page booklet explaining the Bundestag (Parliament) and how it works. Anyone is also allowed to sit in on legislative sessions and meet their representative. It is obvious they are trying to create transparency in the government.Our visit the Reichstag was to visit the rooftop and climb the cupola. The cupola, which rises 155 feet above the ground, provides a 360 degree view of Berlin.