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The Memorial to the Murdered Jewsof EuropeWith the Memorial to the MurderedJews of Europe, an initiative of Germanmemorial supporters wants tohonour the Opfer who lost their livesat the hands of Germans.The memorial is designed to havea strong physical impact on visitors.Shaken up physically and emotionallyand put in a contemplative, curiousmood by this experience, visitors candescend to the underground InformationCentre and research the murderof European Jews, learning details ofthe crimes that the field of columnson ground level cannot convey. Itremains to be seen whether thisphysical experience will bring visitorscloser to the “victims” (in my opiniona problematic objective) whether itwill cause them to reflect on thecrimes and the criminals, or whetherthe memorial will distance visitorsfrom both, making them into merewitnesses.The memorial to the homosexualvictims of both National Socialism and Germany’s post-war period musthold its own in the semantic and topographic environments outlined above.Does a minority group want to honour its own Opfer here? Does it wish tocreate a sense of intimacy with the victims or a sense of distance to historicalevents? Does it want to use the techniques of spatial design to build anaccessible monument? Does it want an untouchable or a touchable symbol?The memorial’s mandate needs to be defined more precisely.Berlin, May 2, 2005(summary)Translated by: Adam Blauhut