The summary of my presentation (20/06/2007)
by Kanenari Akiko
“The meaning of the Holocaust Memorial after unification of the Eastern and Western Germany.”
Holocaust Memorial is shortened name. Formal name is “The Memorial to the murdered Jew in Europe”. It was established to commemorate murdered Jew during WWⅡ. In Germany there are many War memorials. But this memorial is unusual compared with other memorials. So I’m studying about this memorial and what this represents.
First I showed about German efforts toward past crimes. German government completely denied the Nazis. So Germany is paying many countries compensation. The total of expenses came to more than 60billion euro. And German court of justice arrest more than 100thousands people and about 7thousands people was found guilty. In addition Germany actively works historical education and in textbook and schools Germany tries to teach the fact. But these efforts are not enough not to cause war again. So in Germany these days it seems memorizing past events is important.
Next I talked about Memorials. Memorial is built not to forget past, but it can’t keep all pasts. Especially public memorial works as a system of Group Memory. It means memorials can’t represent individual memories, and represent selected fact as the society’s memory. In this process, Memory is selected. Convenient memory is easy to be emphasized and inconvenient memory is easy to be forgotten. And what is convenient or not changes by the time and society. So memorials are influenced by the present society, for example political problems, economy, and international relations.
Then I explained about the Holocaust Memorial. This project started in 1988 by Lea Rosh. She is a famous German journalist. Her real name is Edit but she hates this name because it’s typical German name. She loves Jew and wants to be Jew. So she changed her name. Her and her fellows’ strong will moved the society and in 1993 the president H. Kohl announced he agreed the memorial. In 1994 first competition took place, but the finalist plan was canceled. And in 1997 Second competition was held. In 1999 Bundestag, this is German Parliament, decided to build it. And then in May 2005 this completed.
Next was about the scale of this. It’s located between Brandenburg gate and Potsdam square. This area is the center of Berlin. Around the Bundestag is the political place. Brandenburg gate is one of the famous sightseeing spot in Berlin. Potsdam square is the center of economy. This place is also really historical place. Around Memorial’s square was Hitler’s base during WWⅡ. And entire area of this memorial is 19thousands square meters; this is the same size as three football pitches. 2711 stones are lined in this place and there are no sentences to explain something. It cost 28million Euro; it is about 4billion yen.
Because of these unusual sides, there are many objections until completion. So this memorial needed really long time. Next I introduced main controversies.
1: Whose memorial? This means why it made for only Jew? Victims except for Jew complained and insisted to join them. For example, Homosexuality, Mental disorders, Sinti Romany.
2: This location is suitable for the memorial or not. Why Germany has to establish such a big memorial in the center of Berlin.
3: Can this design contribute for memorizing of German crimes? Is the design really suitable? Many people thought this design is unusual and strange to commemorate victims.
4: This Memorial was designed by Peter Eiseman he is a Jew living in America. Some German thought this memorial should be made by German. This Memorial is made for not only Jew but also German themselves.
5: Last is objection of this memorial itself because of consciousness as German. They thought Germany achieves many responsibilities for the war. And they don’t want to see German’s past crime any more. Today’s Germans are not murder. One famous writer Walser called this “the Stone Monument of shame.”
Above this there were many objection and conflict to establish this. But it completed. I think the power to establish.
1: Germany is Pro-Jewism society. It means many Jew was murdered by German, so German society can’t object Jew officially. If someone criticizes Jew, the person will be considered as anti-Jewism. Because of this environment this project can’t be stopped.
2: International Pressure. It is connected with first reason. Germany has to show the attitude of regret forever toward other countries too. So German can’t deny the plan about German crimes.
3: Unification. I think third reason is important. Unification was really big event after the end of WWⅡ. But there are big differences between Western German and Eastern German. It causes many problems. German politics have to build national identity as one Germany. So they needed the symbol of New German. By this Memorial German people can see same memory of past Germany. And they confirm they overcome their past and now they are new country. I think in political side this memorial has such meaning.
The meaning of the Holocaust Memorial Q&A (Ms Kanenari)
Q Why was the Holocaust Memorial designed by a Jew lives in America?
Were there any objections?
A He won the second competition and the president Helmut Kohl liked his design.
There were many objections about his design, but the debate was too long so German government and association couldn’t be long anymore, and the decided his design.
Q Was Lea Rosh the only person who started the project?
A She started the movement and she collected her fellows and a famous historician Eberhart Jaeckel led this movement too.
Q Why she started the movement in1988?
A She is a journalist. She reports about Jew for a long time. In 1988, the government decide to reuse the square so Rea Rosh said that the Memorial should be built there.
Q Why was the first competition canceled?
A There are many reasons. One of the reasons is that President Helmut Kohl didn’t like the design and in the first competition, many historicians and artists are included so they didn’t agree each other.
Q How does Ms Kanenari think about it’s location?
A Berlin is a very historical place and it is the center of war, Hitler decided many holocausts from Berlin. So it is important to built a war memorial in Berlin.
Q Why Ms Kanenari interested in this Holocaust Memorial?
A She went to Germany last summer and saw the stone square in Berlin. She was very interested in it.
Q Why some people didn’t agree to build the memorial?
A It’s because of pro-Jewism. German people knows the importance of building a war memorial. But there are no national memorial for Jew. So some of people agreed the memorial, and others didn’t. It’s really complex memorial so there are many opinions and positions.
Q Was this the project of western Germany?
A Yes, it was. Eastern Germany didn’t try to overcome the past, so many projects started in Western Germany. It’s natural.
Q What is the attitude of pro-Nazi group for the Holocoast Memorial?
A They try to stop the establishment or painted some stones, but it is not a big movement.
Q What is the administrator now?
A It’s a national place so the federal government owns it.
Q Does Ms Kanenari think that their effort is successful in Germany?
A It is a chance for people to think about war so it is very important.
Q Who did cost the money to build the memorial?
A Federal government, Berlin city and not Jew but German volunteers did, because it is a German Memorial.
Q What does those stones represent?
A It looks like tombstone, but Peter Eisenman said it doesn’t represent something.
Families and individuals concerning the movement of population
in pre-modern society of England and Japan
summerized by Sakamoto Yoko
I thought about the meaning of building a monument without any words engraved on it. Although words are not absolute concept, we depend highly on them to memorize facts. If the Germans really feel the need to keep the memory of Holocaust, they would probably curve words on the stones. I think the meaning of the monument changed since the project first begun in 1988. It may have been sought for the Jew at first, but when it was built, it seems to me that it was more for the German than for the Jew. I think the monument has an aspect of memorizing holocaust, but it also plays an important role as purifying the sin of war. In this sense, the monument can be said that it is for the Germans.
By 4th grade Yamano Chiemi
So good , her presentation is very crealy and understandable for me. Her presentation is about the Holocaust Memorial. I think it is good to pick up this Project to know about Holocaust memory of German people. But I have two questions. First, that Project has started in 1988. This means 1988 is "before unification". So I think this is the only West Germany's Project. In spite of that, can we call the project "all of German's project "? Second, I want to know what the people in Berlin think about the Monument. If the memory is built in Japan, in Tokyo, most of Japanese people against that project, maybe. How about Berlin?
By Shibu Junnosuke
My question is what she wants to know through the studies of Holocaust.
By Hiroe DOI
I think both presentation were very interesting.
As for Ms. Kanenari's, to think about war is really important to us as Japanese. Japan is sometimes compared with German and critisized that Japan didn't reflect on the past.
Some people say that Japan should learn from Germany. I heard German has also many political or rational problems so I can't completely agree, but this idea that built such a monument which gives all people a chance to think about war is very good.
By Sakamoto Yoko, U4 student
I went to Berlin with Ms.Kanenari last summer and saw the Holocaust Memorial together. The Memorial is really in the center of the city which has a lot of tall buildings, and its size is very large. So the Memorial is very impressive. I certainly felt there were some meanings on it. The design of the Memorial was very peculiar. I wonder who the judge of the design competitions was and what the standard of deciding the design was. The point of view of regarding the Memorial as a symbol of the Western Germany dominance is very interesting. Ms.Kanenari's presentation was smooth and especially the responses to the questions from us were very good.
By Kazuha Okimoto
I think her speech was very good. First of all, her fluent English attracted me. And, I admire her point of view. She notices the new monument, and she finds the problem of it, setting researching point originally. She researched this monument deeply. The range of data is wide－background and process of the construction, location, source of money, etc…and she considers the controversies against the monument. She catches the research point exactly. I think that she has sure vision of research, so I want her to make her research smoothly without hesitation.
By Takuya Kohmoto
I thought her presentation was very clear and easy to follow. The subject of her presentation, memorizing the past, is also very important to Japan. So I thought it was interesting. But I think only constructing memorials are not enough to memorize the past. So I wanted to know more about other efforts.
By U4 Rika Kobata
I didn't know a lot about the Holocaust Memorial, so this was a good chance to study about it. I think what the number of stones on the ground mean could be understood somewhat by structure of the Memorial which has close connection with the exhibition room underground. In her presentation, I was Interested that the implication of the Memorial differs between West and East Germany. It's a very complex but important problem to deal with the Memorial.
By Oiwa Eriko
Her presentation was about Memorial in Germany, and I asked her how the memorial and the place, Berlin, are related. I think that showing how meaningful the place for the people is pretty important to insist on the importance of the memorial. She said that Berlin was the center of war, so that the place is so important. I could agree with her partly, but I cannot agree with her completely. I think the importance of Berlin, because of the center of war, does not mean that the memorial in Berlin is also important.
By Shoji Tsumura
About Ms. Kanenari's presentation "The meaning of the Holocaust Memorial", I think that Holocaust is popular topic, but the Holocaust Memorial is fresh topic, And I think it is useful for Japanese to study the Holocaust, because by doing so, you can remember "Nanjing Massacre" etc. and think of what we can do and what we should do to avoid Holocaust, how we make an apology to China.
By Kakeru Fujiwara