Two Special Prizes Awarded the Berlin Holocaust Memorial

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe placed among the five finalists as nominees for the »Urban Landscape Award« of ther EuroHypo-Bank Frankfurt/Main in September 2006. On 3 November 2006, the Field of Stelae designed by Eisenman was awarded one of the seven special prizes of the »Architekturpreis Berlin«. The international jury of architects and architecture critics and writers of the »Architecture Prize Berlin« here chose to honour the »outstanding, path-breaking examples in architecture and city planning« and praised the Memorial as an »invaluable building block in the contemporary culture of Berlin and the nation«.

On 5 November 2006, the Memorial received second place in the »Globe Award for Best Worldwide Tourism Project« of the »British Guild of Travel Writers« during their annual »World Travel Market« in London. It was among the three projects nominated in this category. The »Globe Award«, initiated in 2001, is given for a »globally significant new project in the tourism sector«, in harmony with its cultural, architectural and natural surroundings, and at the same time of benefit for the municipal economy.

»This honour confirms our experience with this place of memory. The Monument has achieved a high degree of international attention and recognition. In addition, it has made it possible for us to welcome groups of visitors to Berlin who without the existence of this Memorial would not have come to the German capital«, noted the head of the Berlin Tourismus Marketing Ltd., Hanns Peter Nerger.

The Executive Director of the Memorial Foundation, Uwe Neumärker, expressed his great satisfaction with these special distinctions granted the Memorial: »Unfortunately, it cant always be first place. But the national and international acclaim is clearly manifest here once more in these awards: The Memorial is a point of great attraction in this city and has transformed Germany!«