Month: October 2024

Memorial to the Sinti and Roma of Europe Murdered Under National Socialism

Entrance to the Memorial for the Sinti and Roma

This memorial, which is tucked away in the middle of Berlin is blocked away from the rest of the city by walls of glass. Walking up to the memorial, you are presented with a wall of information on the persecution of the Sinti and Roma as well as the process to get them recognized as a victim group of national socialism. A short animated video testimony is also playing on a loop outside the space. Inside, there is the main reflecting pool, surrounded by stones with the names of the locations where the Sinti and Roma were murdered. This space, unlike the other memorials, is quiet. Other than the violin music playing and the faint sounds of construction, no children are running around, no one is sitting having a picnic, and nothing “disrespectful” is happening in this space.

The Memorials Reflection Pool

The sombre feeling that one can experience in this space, as opposed to others, shows us the importance of design in creating these spaces of memory. This memorial, while being in a central location, is isolated away from the city and surrounded by nature. You are forced to interact and reflect on the memorial because it is the only thing within the space to interact with. When you are done with your reflection or observation, you then leave the space behind. This site has clear boundaries, and while the information section is on the outside of the memorial, it too is secluded off to the side of the walking path.

I think that this shows how important design is when getting people to interact with memorial sites. This memorial is only a few blocks away from the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, yet how people interaction with the space is so different. This space is clearly labelled, which is not true for a lot of sites we visited. It is also secluded away from the normal activity of the city so people don’t interact with it as often. While you can argue over the pros and cons of its isolation, the visitor behaviour, at least from what I saw, was much more informed and reflective than any other site I visited.

Sachsenhausen

At first glance, one could assume that this concrete slab would be a bench for tired visitors to sit on as they traverse the vast site of the former concentration camp of Sachsenhausen. However, in actuality, it is a grave marker for a mass killing site. You would think that while these people are getting a tour at the site, they must know what they are sitting on, but this is not necessarily true. The signage marking this site has worn off, leaving only the small English translation available. The structure itself is also quite similar in design to that of the actual benches at the site. And, as outside contractors, the tour guides are not associated with the Museum so we don’t know how much training and knowledge they hold. All of this is important in crafting the full story of these tourists, but if you did not dig deeper into the story, you could easily assume that this is simply an act of disrespect. The design of this particular space does not lend to informed reflection like the Sinti and Roma memorial, it works against the visitor in its design by almost disguising itself as a bench. The lack of signage is also an issue as even if a visitor tried to figure out what the structure was, it would not be easy for them to find out. 

Once a member of our group asked them to move, they stood up without a fuss, revealing that they themselves were Jewish visitors. With this discovery, we now have another set of questions. Does that then change the narrative? Do Jewish visitors get a different set of social rules when interacting with these places than non Jewish visitors? And if so why? How do you then police people’s behaviours if different people have different social rules for what is considered appropriate behaviour at these sites? And how does that play into our judgments of people’s actions? If you saw someone taking a selfie at a concentration camp, what would your reaction be if they were a concentration camp survivor or their descendant verse someone with no connection to the Holocaust? Is it possible to police that without assuming peoples ancestors and intentions?

Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum

It would be almost impossible to talk about Holocaust memorialization and visitor attitudes without talking about Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum. It is hard to describe the emotional toll this space exudes, and while I always feel a little redundant when I say that I really hated being in this space, I was not expecting the visceral emotional reaction that I had. It was like my body reacted in isolation from my mind and even though I knew that this place did not pose me any danger, my body wanted to get me out of the space as fast as possible. This was something I had never experienced before, and even after a week in Berlin and having some level of preparation before coming to this site, I was completely overwhelmed.

People standing by the train car in Auschwitz-Birkenau

While I was waiting within the grounds of Auschwitz I, I observed the hundreds of other visitors at this site and wondered how I could ever judge them for their actions. The majority of the visitors that I saw were teenagers on school trips, and I was left wondering just how much they knew before coming to this site. I was struck by a memory I have of a history school trip I took in high school. Some of the students were in grade 8, and at that point in the Social Studies curriculum, they had not learned about World War Two yet. So here we are, outside of Amsterdam, at a Canadian Military Cemetery, and these children, who were not prepared in any way for what they were going to experience, just broke down. So then I look back to these students there at Auschwitz, a site that made me, a well informed academic breakdown, and I can’t imagine what they must be feeling. So when I see some teenagers fooling around with their friends, I don’t think of it as disrespectful, I think of it as a way of coping with this traumatic space.