Peter Eisenman: Building Germany’s Holocaust Memorial

2005 / 58 min. / color
Directed by Michael Blackwood

Peter Eisenman Building Germany’s Holocaust Memorial chronicles the architect’s creation of a major public sculpture in the center of Berlin. The idea of a memorial was initiated by a group of concerned Germans led by the journalist Lea Rosh in 1988, who demanded a visible public acknowledgement of that dark episode in their country’s past. Eisenman succeeded brilliantly in the face of controversy and critique, most of which vanished with the dedication of the memorial in May 2005. The stelae are of varying heights, tipping to the left and right on a shifting, undulating ground, reminiscent of a wheat field tossed by strong winds. Access to the field is through a grid of narrow walkways barely 3 feet wide, just enough for one person to pass through. In this documentation we invited prominent German politicians, literati, academicians as well as general visitors to comment on their feelings and impressions on the memorial.