Mediated Space, Mediated Memory: New Archives at the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin

Abstract

The Holocaust Memorial in Berlin is a site experienced by individuals in and outside its confines in time and place. This is true of other memorials whose experience always exceeds their physical boundaries and the temporal confines of the visit. Unlike other such memorials, this one, with its abstract form and location on a large lot in the center of Berlin between Brandenburg Gate and Potsdamer Platz (and near the Reichstag building), is considered ‘non-authentic’ with regard to the Holocaust. This new characteristic of a Holocaust Memorial frames how one experiences it, and contrasts with ‘authentic’ memorial sites, in which, it is presumed, some approximation of the victim’s voice can be represented (DeKoven Ezrahi, 2004).