Paul Sullivan takes a journey through Berlin’s Jewish Museum…
Of all Berlin’s myriad museums and memorials, Daniel Libeskind’s Jewish Museum is one of the most powerful and unique. Built in 1999 and opened in 2001, it’s a bold attempt to express not only the horrors of the Holocaust, but also to examine the broader history of Jewish life and culture in Germany.
Located off a busy road in the city’s Kreuzberg district, the museum’s striking zinc-clad structure, with its violent slashes for windows and unsettling zig-zag form, intended to resemble a “dislocated” Star of David when viewed from above, readily indicates to visitors that they are not in for a comfortable experience.
The entrance to the museum is via an adjacent Baroque building, built in 1736, that originally housed the Prussian chamber court and later the City Museum. This all feels normal enough until you realise the lack of a formal entrance or exit means the Jewish Museum is a prison of sorts.
Indeed, once you’ve passed the security check, things change quite dramatically. A concrete ramp descends into the heart of the main building, and what Libeskind describes as his Trio of Axes—three lengthy, geometrically skewed corridors that crisscross to represent different aspects of the Jewish-German experience.
Along the Holocaust Axis, visitors pass a series of eerily lit display cases that showcase anti-Jewish Nazi propaganda, and personal mementos from those who either survived or were murdered in …