Information Centre under the Field of Stelae

Important information about visiting the exhibition

Opening hours

Tue – Sun 10 am – 6 pm
Last admission 45 minutes before closing time

Waiting times

The length depends
of the day’s events.
Over the times you can
inform on site.

Closing days

Always closed on Mondays (except 27.1., 21.04., 9.6., 29.12.),
Dec 24-26 closed and 31 Dec. closed from 4 p.m.

CONTACT

For questions:
+49 30 26 39 43 – 36
besucherservice@stiftung-denkmal.de

If you need an elevator, please contact us.

Access to the exhibition is via a security gate, but there may be waiting times.

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  • We ask for appropriate behavior in the exhibition.
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  • The reading room closes 45 minutes before the exhibition closes.

Exhibition tour

The exhibition begins with an overview of the Nazi terror policy from 1933 to 1945. A line of text and images depicts the persecution and murder of European Jews in order to be able to classify the contents of the following four thematic rooms. From the front wall of the opening area of the exhibition, visitors are confronted by six large-format faces. These portraits represent the six million Jewish victims.

The focus of the first themed room is on diary entries, letters and final notes taken during the persecution. Few of the murdered Jewish children, women and men could leave testimonies of their personal suffering. The diaries and farewell letters, which are often only preserved in fragments, highlight their experiences, feelings and actions in the face of violence and deadly threats.

This personal level is supplemented by a circulating volume which gives the number of victims for the European countries concerned within the 1937 borders. There are no traces of most of the people deported to extermination. Between 5.4 and almost 6 million Jews have been murdered in Nazi-dominated Europe. The range of figures is based on documents of the perpetrators and statistical surveys of the then twenty, today twenty-eight European countries from which the murdered came. This tradition, too, is incomplete. The perpetrators deliberately removed references to the murdered and their life circumstances; documents were destroyed or lost in the war.

On the basis of 15 Jewish family fates, different social, national, cultural and religious worlds are presented in this room. This illustrates the contrast between life before, during and after persecution, the destruction of this culture and the loss it entails. Photos and personal documents report the dissolution, expulsion and destruction of these families and their members.
The stories of Jewish families reflect the diversity of the worlds of European Jews before the Holocaust. Religious traditions were cultivated and passed on in the family. But the stories shown here also highlight the change that European Jews have undergone since the rise of religious and political reform movements in the 19th century. The changes between the generations are clearly visible in the portraits on display. In the face of the rise of anti-Semitism in the 1930s, the family, along with the Jewish community, offered important support for the persecuted. The German occupation of large parts of Europe tore apart almost all family ties, and up to six million people were killed in the mass murder. The few survivors have often lost their entire kinship. Their lives and cultural environment were wiped out. In contrast to the family histories on display here, not even individual photographs were preserved.

In the room of names, the dramaturgical highlight of the exhibition is the reading of short biographies of murdered or missing Jews. Here, an attempt is made to dissolve the incomprehensible number of six million Jews killed in their abstraction and to free the victims from their anonymity. Each person’s name, year of birth and year of death are simultaneously projected onto the four walls.
The National Socialists and their helpers snatched millions of Jews from their homeland, culture and world. Their mortal remains usually did not find a burial place, but were buried or burned. Little today bears witness to the existence of those murdered. In many cases, their names are no longer even known. Testimony from witnesses and the results of historical research make it possible to commemorate the dead individually. Reconstructing the biographies is a difficult and lengthy process. The information presented in this room is in line with the current state of knowledge. But the search continues. The reading of the names and life stories of all the victims in the form presented here would take about six years, seven months and 27 days.

The creation of the sound recordings in the Romm of Names is complex. But because as many names and information about victims as possible are to be preserved from oblivion and the memory of those murdered is to be kept alive in this way, the “Promotional Circle Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe” has kindly agreed to co-finance the production with its donations.

In the foyer area, visitors can research the biographies of victims of the Holocaust themselves in the database on the Room of Names.

Another aim of the Information Centre is to present the murder of the Jews under National Socialist rule in its entirety throughout Europe.
In the Room of Sites, historical film and photographic material on a total of 220 exemplary places of persecution and extermination of the Jews and other victims of the Nazi terror is shown in an endless loop on four large screens. These include mass shootings, extermination and concentration camps, ghettos and »euthanasia sites«, but also deportation routes and death marches. In addition to well-known names, such as the large concentration, transit and extermination camps, less prominent places or places not yet anchored in cultural memory are at the centre of the depictions. This also applies to cities in the former German eastern regions such as Breslau, Stettin and Königsberg.
In addition, the seven extermination camps and the mass shooting of Babij Jar near Kiev are depicted in photos and explanatory texts on eight narrow steles. Listening stations also allow contemporary witnesses to have their say. One hears reports and memories that relate to these eight places.
In the exit foyer of the Information Centre, a memorial portal offers visitors a virtual insight into the European landscape of remembrance.

The portal provides information about more than 550 memorials, museums and monuments in 35 countries through historical photos and, above all, through up-to-date visual material. In addition, the online portal provides detailed background information on the countries, their history during the Second World War and the remembrance cultures that developed there after 1945. The memorial portal is thus considered to be unique on a European level because it not only marks the places, but also informs about the historical contexts and the very different forms of remembrance.
Due to many enquiries from visitors, the »Information Portal to European Sites of Remembrance« has been accessible at www.memorialmuseums.org since summer 2011.

Since January 2008, the online version of the »Gedenkbuch(es) – Opfer der Verfolgung der Juden unter der Nazialistischen Gewaltherchaft in Deutschland 1933 – 1945« with over 159,000 entries for individual research has been available in the back area of the foyer. The database of the Federal Archives enables visitors to search specifically for names, places of residence, birth, deportation and death dates of Jewish victims. For the online version of the memorial book, the letters from relatives of the murdered, researchers and interested private individuals received by the Federal Archives since its publication in 2006 have been evaluated and taken into account. Compared to the printed version, the online version contains 10,000 newly researched names. These include, for the first time, the previously known names of about 7,000 Polish Jews deported from the German Reich to Poland in 1938/39. Furthermore, the results of the work on the project »List of Jewish Residents in the German Reich 1933 – 1945« have been incorporated into the online presentation. Almost 1,000 sources from institutions in Germany and abroad were evaluated for this purpose.

At the end of their tour, visitors to the exhibition will be able to take a detailed look at the life stories of victims of persecution through video interviews.
The interviews were conducted by the Foundation itself or by other institutions: In the video archive of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, part of the important Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University is publicly presented. In addition, interviews from the »Archive of Remembrance«, a cooperation project of the Moses Mendelssohn Center Potsdam, as well as interviews from the Documentation and Cultural Center of German Sinti and Roma in Heidelberg and other collections are included in the collection.
All interviews are recorded in a database and can be selected at computer terminals. The interviews are presented there uncut and in full length. Through the various search options, the detailed evaluations and the presentation of transcriptions, translations, tables of contents and topics, CVs and short biographies, passages from the interviews lasting several hours can be targeted. As a result, the video archive database provides unique insights into this increasingly important historical source for the future.

Special introductions to the work of the video archive can be booked via the visitor service.

You can find more about the Interview Project of the Foundation »Speaking in Spite of Everything« here. The Foundation’s video interviews are available online at www.sprechentrotzallem.de (only in German).

The reading room can be visited during the opening hoursof the place of information.

Visitors to the exhibition have the opportunity to linger for a moment after their tour and to take a look at the various publications of the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Of course, these can also be purchased on site.

The designer of the exhibition Dagmar von Wilcken

Traffic

Publications available in the place of information

Offers for visitors

Frequently Asked Questions

Entrance is cost-free, but we of course welcome donations. There is a donation box at the exit of the Information Centre. Donations are used for maintenance of the Information Centre. It is also possible to send a donation by bank transfer.

We recommend about one hour for a tour of the exhibition. If you use an audio guide for the tour, you will require about 90 minutes.

In planning your visit, please take into account the waiting time for entry. We give precedence to registered groups that have reserved a time for the Information Centre, so this may require you to wait. Please appreciate that this is necessary.

Yes. For your own safety, you will pass through a security check zone when you enter the Information Centre. Dangerous objects should be deposited at the entrance for the duration of your visit to the exhibition. In order to avoid a long wait, it is best not to have much baggage.

Yes. In the Information Centre there is a free cloakroom.

Due to the safety regulations and due to space constraints, it is not possible to carry and store bags larger than conventional hand luggage (dimensions approx. 55x40x20 cm).
Tour groups are kindly asked to consult the visitor service about the amount of luggage carried before visiting: besucherservice@stiftung-denkmal.de,Tel.: +49 (0)30-26 39 43 36.

Luggage lockers are located near the monument at Potsdamer Platz and Friedrichstraße stations, or at the main railway station.

No. Suitcases and small bags may not be taken to the exhibition due to security checks. Lockers are available nearby at Friedrichstraße station and Potsdamer Platz.

Yes, the audio guide costs 3 euros, reduced 2 euros.

At the cash desks you can pay in cash, by EC and by credit card (Visa, Mastercard).

Only school groups receive the discount. The price for school is 2 euros.

Yes, you may take photographs, but without using a flash.

Out of consideration for other visitors, we ask you to turn off your cell phone during your visit to the exhibition.

External travel guides, tour guides and teachers are asked to kindly refrain from conducting any tour through the Information Centre. Our visitor consultants are available for questions during a tour of the exhibition and will be happy to assist you.

Coaches can stop at the marked parking spaces in Hannah-Arendt-Straße to get in and out of the area. To park the coaches, please also use the designated parking spaces in the street of 17 June (both sides of the street between the Brandenburg Gate and the Soviet Memorial).

If you lose or find something, please contact the reception desk in the Information Centre.: Tel.: +49 (0) 30-200 766 0.

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe Foundation supports teachers in preparing for the visit with a school class. The pedagogical program includes various guided tours as well as workshops lasting several hours, specially designed for students. We offer teachersmaterials for the preparation and follow-up of the visit with a school class.

We recommend visiting the exhibition in the Information Centre for students from 14 years.

For bookings, please use our booking requestor contact our visitor service: Tel.: +49 (0) 30-26 39 43 36

For families with young children, a changing table is available in the disabled toilet. Strollers can be borrowed from the reception for the duration of the visit.

People with pushchairs can use the elevator to get to the Information Centre.
Please contact a visitor supervisor at the entrance stairs.

We recommend a visit for young people from 14 years of age.

All exhibition texts in the Information Centre are presented in German and English.
Audio guides can be borrowed to provide translations of the exhibition texts in the following languages: French, Hebrew, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish. (see audio translation)

A free public guided tour in English is held every Saturday at 3 p.m. Group accompaniments can be booked in the following languages: German, English, French, Hebrew, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Spanish and many other languages on request. (see group tour)

The leaflet for the memorial is available in 21 languages.

The Field of Stelae can be traversed by wheelchair. It has 13 marked axes of entry whose slope angle is 8% maximum. They are marked with specially grooved paving stones and floor pictograms (wheelchair symbol) on the border to the public sidewalk.

The Information Centre is accessible to wheelchair users and has no barriers of any kind. In order to use the elevator, please contact our visitor consultant in the entrance area an the stairway. Wheelchairs can be borrowed at the reception desk in the Information Centre for the elderly or persons with impaired mobility for the entire duration of their visit.

For safety reasons, only a maximum of 6 wheelchair users can visit the exhibition at the same time. We ask for your understanding. For questions contact our visitor service: besucherservice@stiftung-denkmal.de, Tel.: +49 (0) 30-26 39 43 36

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Werkstattberichte