Berlin 2016- Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

One of the must visit sights in Berlin is the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This memorial was designed by American architect Peter Einsenmen. It is a very simple idea - but it is very powerful and I am sure most people who visit will find it evocative of the atrocities that visited the Jewish people of Europe during the 2nd World War.

The Memorial is a forest of concrete columns sitting on an undulating ground. The ground sinks deeper as you go towards the centre. The columns at the periphery are only 1 or 2 feet high - but in the centre they are more then double the average human height and you feel yourself engulfed by the columns - and a sense of claustrophobia creeps in.

The shape of the columns are rectangular. In proportion they are unmistakably tombstones. However to most visitors they are perfect places to sit. And to the small kids they are a perfect playground. It seems to suggest the peculiar human folly that we can be indifferent and oblivious to the horrors that go on even just around us.