FadeTheButcher
07-27-2004, 03:25 PM
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=ourWorldNews&storyID=5772054
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's new memorial to 6 million European Jews murdered in the Holocaust will need 24-hour protection from neo-Nazi vandalism.
Private security firms and Berlin police will carry out round the clock patrols and visitors will have to go though metal detectors and bag checks when the memorial is officially opened to the public in May 2005.
Finishing touches are being put to the central memorial, a maze of 2,700 concrete pillars covering an area the size of four football fields in Berlin's government quarter.
Successive Berlin city governments and memorial officials have been engaged in a long-running dispute about who should pay for the tight security.
Critics said that if Germany could not protect its Jews in the Third Reich, it should at least be able to guard a memorial to them now.
"We can't let every neo-Nazi group come and vandalize the place," said Lea Rosh, one of the driving forces behind the memorial since it was conceived in 1987. "But I'm confident the Berlin police will do a good job."
The federal and Berlin city governments have agreed to share responsibility for the security of the memorial, a striking labyrinth of 3-foot-wide pillars which rise from just a few inches to up to 10 feet high.
The German government will finance the security and maintenance of the Holocaust memorial site while the local Berlin government will fund intensified police patrols in the surrounding area.
The memorial stands on a barren strip of land on top of the recently discovered bunker of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and near Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler's bunker. During the Cold War, the land was in the death strip just east of the Berlin Wall.
Despite their security concerns, memorial officials did not want the site to look barricaded. "I can't predict how things will turn out but I never want to see the memorial surrounded by barbed wire and vicious guard dogs," said Rosh, a Hamburg-born writer and leader of the foundation behind the building of the memorial.
ALREADY A TOURIST ATTRACTION
The monument to the murdered Jews of Europe is due to be inaugurated on May 8, 2005 -- coinciding with ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.
Most of the construction work is nearly done and the memorial's pillars have already become a landmark for tourists.
They are made from concrete specially impregnated with anti-vandalism chemicals that will make it possible to erase any graffiti easily.
The cost of security for the vast monument, just south of the Brandenburg Gates and close to the site of a new American Embassy, will pose a financial challenge for Germany, which is still struggling to cover the costs of unification.
Foundation officials were unable to disclose details of the security costs, which will be published in the government budget in November 2004. Security will be paid for by the federal government using public taxes.
"The monument is the responsibility of the German people," said Uwe Neumaerker, spokesman for the foundation responsible for managing 27.6 million euros ($33.9 million) of state money to build the memorial.
"Unfortunately strict security measures are necessary but hopefully we can count on people's sense of decency to respect the monument because we don't want to have to use barbed wire."
The federal government has also pledged to play a part in protecting the memorial.
"The monument was directly commissioned by the government so of course it will be involved in carrying the financial burden of maintenance and security," said Monika Palmen-Schruebbers, spokeswoman for the German Ministry for Culture.
Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl was a staunch supporter of the monument and set up the panel that picked a design by U.S architect Peter Eisenman. The German parliament also voted in favor of the memorial. Eisenman's design aims to make visitors feel alone as they wander among the memorial's labyrinth of columns.
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's new memorial to 6 million European Jews murdered in the Holocaust will need 24-hour protection from neo-Nazi vandalism.
Private security firms and Berlin police will carry out round the clock patrols and visitors will have to go though metal detectors and bag checks when the memorial is officially opened to the public in May 2005.
Finishing touches are being put to the central memorial, a maze of 2,700 concrete pillars covering an area the size of four football fields in Berlin's government quarter.
Successive Berlin city governments and memorial officials have been engaged in a long-running dispute about who should pay for the tight security.
Critics said that if Germany could not protect its Jews in the Third Reich, it should at least be able to guard a memorial to them now.
"We can't let every neo-Nazi group come and vandalize the place," said Lea Rosh, one of the driving forces behind the memorial since it was conceived in 1987. "But I'm confident the Berlin police will do a good job."
The federal and Berlin city governments have agreed to share responsibility for the security of the memorial, a striking labyrinth of 3-foot-wide pillars which rise from just a few inches to up to 10 feet high.
The German government will finance the security and maintenance of the Holocaust memorial site while the local Berlin government will fund intensified police patrols in the surrounding area.
The memorial stands on a barren strip of land on top of the recently discovered bunker of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and near Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler's bunker. During the Cold War, the land was in the death strip just east of the Berlin Wall.
Despite their security concerns, memorial officials did not want the site to look barricaded. "I can't predict how things will turn out but I never want to see the memorial surrounded by barbed wire and vicious guard dogs," said Rosh, a Hamburg-born writer and leader of the foundation behind the building of the memorial.
ALREADY A TOURIST ATTRACTION
The monument to the murdered Jews of Europe is due to be inaugurated on May 8, 2005 -- coinciding with ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.
Most of the construction work is nearly done and the memorial's pillars have already become a landmark for tourists.
They are made from concrete specially impregnated with anti-vandalism chemicals that will make it possible to erase any graffiti easily.
The cost of security for the vast monument, just south of the Brandenburg Gates and close to the site of a new American Embassy, will pose a financial challenge for Germany, which is still struggling to cover the costs of unification.
Foundation officials were unable to disclose details of the security costs, which will be published in the government budget in November 2004. Security will be paid for by the federal government using public taxes.
"The monument is the responsibility of the German people," said Uwe Neumaerker, spokesman for the foundation responsible for managing 27.6 million euros ($33.9 million) of state money to build the memorial.
"Unfortunately strict security measures are necessary but hopefully we can count on people's sense of decency to respect the monument because we don't want to have to use barbed wire."
The federal government has also pledged to play a part in protecting the memorial.
"The monument was directly commissioned by the government so of course it will be involved in carrying the financial burden of maintenance and security," said Monika Palmen-Schruebbers, spokeswoman for the German Ministry for Culture.
Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl was a staunch supporter of the monument and set up the panel that picked a design by U.S architect Peter Eisenman. The German parliament also voted in favor of the memorial. Eisenman's design aims to make visitors feel alone as they wander among the memorial's labyrinth of columns.