Functions of Memorials

THE HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL IN BERLIN

Download: holocaust_memorial.doc

So what exactly is a war memorial and what should be it’s foremost functions? Maybe one of the most important functions should be to help moving forward in the healing process. To be able to make sense of the past, make peace with it, and bring us into the future. And  maybe in order to heal, a war memorial needs to invoke public discussions and controversies.  

This was what architect Peter Eisenman thought when he designed The Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. When the memorial finally unveild in May 2005, it had already been raising questions for public debate for 17 years. And still, it continues to do so. 

The Holocaust Memorial consists of an entire city block covered, seemingly haphazardly, in huge concrete blocks. Some of the steal pillars lay low to the ground, while others stand upright, the tallest reaching a height of 4.7 metres. The 2,711 pillars, planted close together in undulating waves, represent the 6 million murdered Jews. The Memorial in itself is merely a symbolic sculptural construct. It is obvious that it is not required to construct complex sculptures in order to generate a vast amount of media attention, discussions and controversies. 

Here’s a few examples of the controversies: One of the questions raised has been “Why does it only represent Jews and not the Romas and Sintis? What about the homosexuals and the political dissidents?” They also died in extermination camps. Some Jewish leaders, on the other hand, have warned that they would consider to recommend Jews not to visit the memorial; A result of Lea Rosh, the initiator of the project, wanting to embed a tooth she found at an extermination camp into one of the steal pillars.  

But all controversies are welcomed by the architect. Eisenman has aimed to open up discussion rather than close it off: that is, to take the Memorial beyond its specific Holocaust context, and raise wider issues of anti-Semitism and social responsibility. To achieve it he designed an abstract sculpture. A sculpture that wasn’t out to control visitor thoughts and actions, just to provoke them. ‘It stands there, silent,’ he says: ‘the one who has to talk is you.’” 

But does it just stand silent? There are different opinions on how the Monument affects its visitors. Jon Brunberg says that it makes you feel closer to WWII: 

“Standing on an uneven piece of land, the stelae almost fall into the centre of the site, rising up again towards the edge, forming a myriad of uneven stone corridors. Walking down one of these passages is disorientating, and scary; you can’t see who is approaching you, nor who is behind. The tilting ground and lack of vision offers some small idea of the Jewish experience from WWII: your past snatched away, your future insecure, little hope of escape.” 

Anders Høg Hansen experienced something much sunnier though:  “While I was visiting the site in July 2005, people used the lower stones as a bench or were sunbathing on top, having lunch, or sleeping. Youngsters were kissing, or hanging out with a shoulder against a pillar while ’watching for opportunities’. Kids were playing hide and seek, and others were just strolling slowly through. If one walks too fast, you risk bumping into other visitors.” This behavior was something that Eisenman predicted. “I think people will eat their lunch on the pillars,” he said. “I’m sure skateboarders will use it. People will dance on top of the pillars. All kinds of unexpected things are going to happen.” 

OUTRO 
I think that Eisenman has done some good decisions. He has created a living thing; the action-space of the monument and the controversies around it makes it come alive and constantly reshapes it’s being. I haven’t visited the memorial though, so I don’t know how successful it really is. But I’m hoping that it do force visitors to contemplate their personal relation to the Holocaust.  

There are some problems with the people who still looks for the walls with the name collections, the traditional memorial which they are sure how to read. And Memorials should belong to the people, not to the art world. Memorials should find it’s purposes and fill them. Therefore a memorial shouldn’t be too mysterious and artsy. In Berlin they solved the problem by sticking an information center below the monument itself. Another solution is to move the monument to a place with different laws. On the web I think there would be no such obstacles when leaving the traditional behind. I think people have more acceptance for experiments and are more flexible on the web.  

Another thing, concerning the experience design, is that too many people seem to describe it as a playground for the school children visiting. I think the aim to design a war experience is beautiful and I don’t like hearing that it now mainly works as a playground. The playing children can be seen as a part of the art work, letting the everyday life play out right on top of the graveyard-like memory sculpture. But if it takes away from the feeling of being close to those who lost their lives, i ‘m not liking it. Maybe there should have been some element making the experience more scary, so that the mixture with the the playing children and the laughter would become almost airy? Maybe he should have gone a little bit further.  

                                           

 

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REFERENCES 

HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL: ARCHITECT PETER EISENMAN, BERLIN 2005
By Sarah Quigley: http://www.war-memorial.net/news_details.asp?ID=66 

MEMORIALS ARE AFTER ALL ONLY SYMBOLIC WORKS OF ART
By: Jon Brunberg: http://www.war-memorial.net/news_details.asp?ID=65 

NO “FINAL SOLUTION” TO THE MEMORY PROBLEM
– Holocaust and war memorials in Germany 
By Anders Høg Hansen: http://www.glocaltimes.k3.mah.se/viewarticle.aspx?articleID=32&issueID=4 

THE MEMORIAL TO EUROPE’S MURDERED JEWS OPEN FOR THE PUBLIC
By: Jon Brunberg: http://www.war-memorial.net/news_details.asp?ID=62