A monumental mockery

What kind of memorial would emerge from a relentless ten-year debate between politicians, historians, journalists, architects, artists and urban planners? What were the ramifications for this memorial when it was subsequently edited and modified by the Chancellor of Germany, projected upon by a chat show hostess with an assumed Jewish identity, violated by sequential scandal, subject to enterprising companies and politicians, manipulated and presided over by a foundation bereft of artistic expertise, and finally lorded over by the priorities of tourism? Two years have passed since the inauguration of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe — yet the abstract undulating grey volumes amidst the tourist paraphernalia remain without a title, a sign, or even a dedication. Only the pink “Dunkin’ Donuts” sign, competing with the Munich Beer Hall next door, hovers above the stage of Eisenman’s stelae, which in turn are continuously surmounted by locals and visitors jumping triumphantly to the highest heights. How could seventeen years (sixty years post Holocaust) of coordinated and not so coordinated attempts to build a national Holocaust Memorial in Berlin result in travesty and trivialization? Simone Mangos (Sydney, 1959) is the first author to address this disgraceful state of affairs.