• HOME
  • BLOG | TRAVEL EXPERIENCES
    • NATURE AND LANDSCAPES
    • HIKING, OUTDOORS AND ACTIVE TRAVEL
    • CITIES, CULTURE AND ART
    • FOOD AND WINE
    • TRAVEL TIPS
  • DESTINATIONS
    • EUROPE
      • AUSTRIA
      • BELGIUM
      • FRANCE
      • GERMANY
      • GREAT BRITAIN
      • GREECE
      • ITALY
      • PORTUGAL
      • SPAIN
      • SWITZERLAND
    • ASIA
      • INDONESIA
      • JAPAN
      • MYANMAR
      • PAKISTAN
    • SOUTH AMERICA
      • ARGENTINA
      • BRAZIL
    • OCEANIA
      • NEW ZEALAND
    • AFRICA
      • GAMBIA
      • SOUTH AFRICA
  • LEARN ITALIAN FAST
  • ABOUT
    • WORK WITH ME
    • CONTACT
  • Menu
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Before Header

  • Twitter

Wild About Travel

Travel Tales by a Travel Addict

  • HOME
  • BLOG | TRAVEL EXPERIENCES
    • NATURE AND LANDSCAPES
    • HIKING, OUTDOORS AND ACTIVE TRAVEL
    • CITIES, CULTURE AND ART
    • FOOD AND WINE
    • TRAVEL TIPS
  • DESTINATIONS
    • EUROPE
      • AUSTRIA
      • BELGIUM
      • FRANCE
      • GERMANY
      • GREAT BRITAIN
      • GREECE
      • ITALY
      • PORTUGAL
      • SPAIN
      • SWITZERLAND
    • ASIA
      • INDONESIA
      • JAPAN
      • MYANMAR
      • PAKISTAN
    • SOUTH AMERICA
      • ARGENTINA
      • BRAZIL
    • OCEANIA
      • NEW ZEALAND
    • AFRICA
      • GAMBIA
      • SOUTH AFRICA
  • LEARN ITALIAN FAST
  • ABOUT
    • WORK WITH ME
    • CONTACT
Home » Blog » Berlin Holocaust Memorial. Winning my Brain, but not my Heart

Berlin Holocaust Memorial. Winning my Brain, but not my Heart

//  by Simon//  8 Comments

Since I was a teen-ager I’ve been strongly sensitive to the horrors and the insanity of the Holocaust thus, during my recent trip to the German capital I couldn’t miss seeing the Berlin Holocaust Memorial.

Berlin, The Holocaust Memorial

While walking among the stelae of the Berlin Holocaust Memorial I was surprised by my unexpected reaction: intellectual admiration, but no strong emotions.

Before visiting, I did know very little about the Berlin Holocaust Memorial and deliberately avoided reading articles as I wished to experience it without being biased. I wanted to let my emotions flowing freely. I wished to listen at my heart and not at my brain.

As I walked among the 2,711 concrete stelae created by thew American architect Peter Eisenmann I felt admiration and interest for the creative concept and the architectural beauty of the Holocaust Memorial, still… no strong emotions. My brain was impressed, but that was it.

Berlin Holocaust Memorial

How different I had felt the year before, when totally by chance I came across Gleis 17, the Memorial remembering the deportations of thousands of Berlin Jews to Theresienstadt and Auschwitz. Away from the main touristic routes and a little hidden in the woods of the Grunewald district, Gleis 17 aroused strong and deep emotions that I didn’t feel at the Berlin Memorial to the Murdered Jews.

I need the power of silence to let my heart speak and my emotions flow.

I followed the line of simple plates bordering the  tracks, showing a date, a destination and the number of jews deported.

Walking in the stillness surrounding the Gleis 17 Memorial, I imagined the men, women and children about to embark for a long journey to hell, unaware of the horrors that were awaiting, unknowing that only a handful would survive the monstrosity of the concentration camps.

Berlin Gleis 17 Memorial

My feelings in front of the Berlin Holocaust Memorial were so unexpected that I had to do some introspection. It was not ‘just another place’ and I had to understand why it did not win my heart. Meanwhile, I read a few articles and found out that almost from the beginning the Memorial raised quite a bit of controversy.

Learning about the Holocaust Memorial controversy.

An interesting piece published on The New Yorker points out that the title given to the monument, ‘Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe’, might be confusing on what the commemoration is about, since there’s no direct reference to the Holocaust. Furthermore, the article highlights that the metaphors implied in the Memorial concept might be too broad, and thus confusing.

More controversy stemmed from the fact that the monument is only commemorating the victims of the Holocaust, and does not include  the persecutions for sexual orientation (therefore the Memorial to Homosexuals persecuted under Nazism erected nearby), as well as other killings, like the assassination of Rosa Luxembourg and Karl Liebeknecht in January 1919, as a consequence of their political marxist opinions and political involvement.

Berlin, Holocaust Memorial

As for me, I was impressed by the concept underlying the Berlin Holocaust Memorial, the way the stelae of different dimensions and their being totally bare point out at what was likely the greatest atrocity of the Holocaust: the complete annihilation of the human side of the Jewish people, first reduced to numbers and then to ghosts. 

Berlin - Holocaust Memorial

I suspect that my lack of strong emotions was mostly due to the location of the Memorial, in one of the busiest areas of Berlin. I’ve written more than once about the importance of silence to me, and I felt like the remembrance of the Holocaust insanity required stillness. Only in an environment where there’s no space for distraction, I can reach a total concentration and deeply listen at my heart.

Have you visited Berlin Holocaust Memorial? What kind of feelings did it arouse?

 

More reading: We Shall Never Forget: Berlin between past and Present

 

Simon

Travel addict and passionate about photography, Simon Falvo started Wild About Travel back in 2009. Leveraging her strong PR background, she developed an extensive knowledge of Digital Communications and Social Media Marketing. Besides travel writing Simon holds workshops and trainings, she collaborated with tourism boards for digital marketing campaigns and participated as a speaker at several events.

Category: GERMANYTag: europe, fascinating cities

Previous Post: «Inle-Lake-Market-A-Pa-O-Girl1.jpg Traditional Life at a Burmese Market: A Photo Tour
Next Post: Nature’s Ice Palace: Discovering Wonderland Underneath the Hintertux Glacier Pink-and-Yellow-Ice-Crystals»

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Shaun

    at

    Agree. The memorial is vast and vague. Still, it is chilling to walk through.

    Reply
  2. Just One Boomer (Suzanne)

    at

    I’ve never been to Berlin, but some years back I accompanied my husband to Tergensee, south of Munich for a scientific conference. As we were leaving, on a train back to Munich, I looked out the window, and there, on a nearby track was a rusting cattle car of the type used on the death trains. I felt nauseated and my heart raced. I did not want to be there. 60 years was not long enough for me.

    Reply
  3. louisa

    at

    Interesting post. I get what you mean about this memorial. I was also impressed by the scale of it, and I think it’s important that it’s just near the Brandenburg Gate, so that tourists come face to face with a memorial of the Holocaust. But for a bigger emotional impact head to the Jewish Museum and check out some of the spaces there.

    Reply
    • Simon Falvo

      at

      Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts, Louisa. I haven’t been to the Jewish Museum and will certainly keep it in mind as a tip for my next visit to Berlin.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Berlin East Side Gallery: Memory, Hope and Decay says:
    at

    […] More reading: Berlin Holocaust Memorial. Winning my Brain, but not my Heart […]

    Reply
  2. Hiroshima: Life after the Atomic Bomb « Daily Nerdy says:
    at

    […] The sense of peace was something going way beyond the Peace Memorial Park. As strange as it may sound, as a whole the Park did not really impress me and I felt a little like in Berlin, when I visited the Holocaust Memorial. […]

    Reply
  3. Hiroshima: Life after the Atomic Bomb says:
    at

    […] The sense of peace was something going way beyond the Peace Memorial Park. As strange as it may sound, as a whole the Park did not really impress me and I felt a little like in Berlin, when I visited the Holocaust Memorial. […]

    Reply
  4. Vintage in Berlin U-Bahn says:
    at

    […] More reading: Berlin Holocaust Memorial. Winning my Brain, but not my Heart […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Time limit is exhausted. Please reload CAPTCHA.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

about me

simon-falvo

Hi, I’m Simon!

A solo and independent traveler for over 20 years, and a 50+ girl young at heart.

I worked for over a decade in Investment Banking, then a few years in one of the largest international PR groups. In 2009, after a burn-out, I left the corporate world and started a new adventure.

MORE

book your stay



Booking.com

book a tour / skip the lines

questions about italy?

Send me an e-mail

 

featured posts

Vie di Dante - Views from Dante's Train

Dante’s Train: A Beautiful Train Ride From Faenza To Florence

Ski resorts in Switzerland

Ski Holidays in Switzerland: How to Pick your Ideal Mountain Resort

Portovenere, View on the Gulf

Discover the Best Things to do in Portovenere, Italy

Footer

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • About Me
  • Work with Me
  • Cookie Policy

Copyright © 2021 · Mai Lifestyle Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Reject Read More
Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.