Review: Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

What’s this place all about? A short walk from Brandenburg Gate, this sprawling, maze-like set of 2,711 concrete columns is a haunting reminder of the atrocities and toll of World War II and Germany’s main memorial to the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Officially called the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, the site occupies an entire 205,000-square-foot city block and was designed by American architect Peter Eisenman after an exhaustive 17-year planning process. The memorial’s abstract design offers no explanation or prescribed walking path, but simply invites visitors to enter and become swallowed in its tomb-like slabs.

What’s it like being there?
The sheer size of the memorial offers a fitting setting for remembrance and somber contemplation. Upon entering the vast labyrinth, visitors are engulfed by narrow rows of austere slabs of varying heights rising from the sloping ground. It’s disorienting, confusing, and unsettling—an apt metaphor for the horrors of the Holocaust itself.

Is there a guide involved? The above-ground memorial is unguided and intended to allow visitors to quietly wander and reflect. An underground information center offers more context of the persecution and extermination Jews faced under the Third Reich through images, diaries, and letters.

Was it easy to get around? Visitors should be prepared to take their time wandering through this concrete maze. So long as you’re prepared to lose yourself in its size and aren’t in a hurry, you'll be able to absorb the deeper meaning of the dizzying sarcophagi-like slabs.

All said and done, what—and who—is this best for? There's a reason this memorial has been called “the Venus flytrap of Holocaust memorials.” Give yourself at least 20 minutes to disorientate yourself in its narrow passageways—the intended effect of Eisenman’s design—before venturing underground for more context.