Berlin
Germany
Europe’s hippest capital boasts non-stop nightlife, cutting-edge fashion, cosmopolitan eats and museum treasures galore. At the centre of the World and Cold Wars, it also oozes history, much of it sobering.
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Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
Credit Shutterstock.com/J. Helgason
Last updated: 26 June, 2023
In case you didn’t know already… the Holocaust saw the systematic murder by the Nazis of approximately six million Jews during World War II, almost two thirds of the European Jewish population – including the murder of over one million children.
Made up of 2,711 concrete slabs in undulating rows, this Field of Stelae is a monument to those who died. Designed by Peter Eisenman was designed to make visitors feel uneasy.
The underground information centre is eerier still, documents the persecution and extermination of European Jews through personal effects, tape recordings and letters of Holocaust victims presented in bare, windowless rooms.
Themed rooms showcase historical photographs and footage of the sites of persecution and extermination, plus there are moving photos, diaries and letters from victims.
It’s a poignant and important memorial to a genocide that must never be forgotten.
Logistics
Price: Free
Minimum age: Any
Age suitable: 13+
When: All year around
Getting there & doing it
Take the U-Bahn line U2 to Potsdamer Platz or Mohrenstrasse, or line U55 to Brandenburger Tor.
When to do it
The memorial field is accessible at any time. The exhibition centre is open all year round, Tuesday-Sunday. Closed on Monday.
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