Germany unveiled a national Holocaust memorial in central Berlin
Tuesday, commemorating the six million European Jews slaughtered by
the Nazi regime.
The memorial, located hundreds meters away from the landmark
Brandenburg Gate in the city center and covering 19,000 square
meters, opened two days after the 60th anniversary of the end of
World War II in Europe.
Wolfgang Thierse, speaker of the German Parliament, joined
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and President Horst Koehler at the
opening ceremony.
Thierse took the opening of the memorial as a conscious
confession of Germany to "the biggest crimes in its history."
"Today we open a monument that recalls the worst, the most
dreadful crimes by Nazi Germany -- the attempt to destroy an entire
people," he told a thousand guests from around the world, including
Nazi Holocaust survivors.
Thierse stressed that it will not represent "a definite closure
in the handling of our Nazi history."
While speaking out his recognition and appreciation, the head of
Germany's Central Council of Jews, Paul Spiegel, expressed his
reserved opinion over the monument at the opening ceremony.
The memorial failed to let visitors "be confronted with the
question of guilt and responsibility," he said.
"The memorial for the murdered Jews of Europe honors the victims
of Nazism, but it does not refer directly to the perpetrators,"
Spiegel said.
Nevertheless, Spiegel said the memorial was "an important and
necessary sign" in remembrance of the Holocaust victims.
The vast memorial, designed by US architect Peter Eisenman,
consists of 2,711 dark gray concrete pillars, which together
produce an impression of an open grave yard.
An underground information center complements the field of
pillars with stories of Holocaust victims.
Some people have argued that the design was too abstract. Others
have criticized it for honoring the Jews and not other victims of
Nazi regime.
The German Parliament voted to earmark some 27.6 million euros
(US$35.5 million) to the project in 1999 and the construction work
began two years later.
(Xinhua News Agency May 11, 2005)