Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, commonly known as the Holocaust Memorial, was inaugurated in 2005 in the historic centre of Berlin south of the Brandenburg Gate, commemorating the roughly six million Jews killed under Nazi rule. Designed by US architect Peter Eisenman, it consists of 2,711 concrete stelae of varying heights arranged on a grid above a gently undulating ground. There is deliberately no fixed entrance and no central inscription; the experience of losing oneself among the stelae is part of the concept. Beneath the field of stelae lies the Place of Information designed by Israeli architect Dagmar von Wilcken, which presents biographical fates, family letters and lists of all known victims by name. The years-long political debate around the memorial, which began with a proposal by journalist Lea Rosh, made it a symbol of German remembrance culture even before its opening. Today it is one of Berlin's most visited memorial sites.