Sunday, July 10, 2005
Frontline: A Jew Among the Germans
Ok over the next few weeks I will have alot of free time on my hands so I decided to write up some commentaries of some Frontline stories which they allow you to stream online.
Today I have chosen a file by Marian Marzynski who is reporting about the new monument by Peter Eisenman going up in Berlin near Potsdamerplatz (excuse my spelling). He interviews the project coordinators, architect, and people of Berlin about the issue of the monument and holocaust itself.
I will touch on the design by Eisenman later but first I want to comment about the mentality of the German people. Post holocaust Germany is a very unique situation. The analogy that comes to mind when people talk about post-holocaust Germany is that of a individual coming into conciousness of a horrible mistake they have made. At first they go through the initial shock of realization which is an evident step but what happens next becomes what is of interest. Do they move toward reconciliation or denile? This is where the true character of the individual comes out. A proud person will try and push the blame away, casting the blame on some external factor beyond their control. A more timid person will say silent but secretly resent the accusations. It is never a simple situation.
At the end of the first clip, Marian and a jewish artist are thrown off a site where a memorial is being put up and they talk about the frustration of German's being constantly reminded of the holocaust. Like a thorn that cant be pulled out... and goes deeper the more your pick at it. Feelings are never homogenous but the character of the people can be generalized. I suppose the fact that they have allowed such monuments and museums to go up shows that the German elite have decided to reconcile the errors of their fathers. Yet, the people themselves are torn. Unlike the Japanese, they dont deny the crimes that happened during the war but they stay silent and dont talk about it. It makes sense, afterall who would willingly publicly display their flaws? Perhaps it is too soon for the German people to come to terms with it. Afterall it is easier for those who didn't partake to set things aside... if that makes sense. They address this issue in the second clip and I think they are going about it the right way. Each generation has to approach it their own way because this is the only way that the holocaust would mean anything.
The point is, the holocaust must not be forgotten because if you forget then you are bound to repeat your mistakes. Holocaust has happened before and will most certainly happen again but for the civilized world to repeat such a... irrational and carnal action would be a tragedy and grave mistake. So what must be done? Obviously my generation of German will not, and should not have the guilt of the holocaust burdned upon them. Afterall, it wasn't their actions or decisions directly that propogated the holocaust. It reminds me of the saying: Should a son pay for a father's mistake? Afterall, a similar situation could have as easily arised in India, Argentina, Iceland, or Australia. I will not suppose why it came about because there are numerous disserations about this. What becomes important is to remember and to understand why.
This is where the memorial comes in. There is already a holocaust museum in Berlin designed by Daniel Libeskind. Architecture and design is an act of representation and to a lesser degree, function. Architecture, by its very etymology, is just that, an primal dwelling. If you look at vernacular architecture around the world, they are representative of the locale and people. The buildings in the pacific are open and cool because its hot and the breeze tempers the wood so that they have to be concious of the moisture. In Sweden the same wooden homes are made of the heavy swedish timber abundant in the forest and they are heavily insulated against the bitter cold. So the approach that Eisenman used in this memorial is very pragmatic in the terms of approach. He describes the undulation of the stone slabs as reminiscent of head stones. That is what they teach you in school, to find the analogy... and symbolism behind the subject and impose your own flair to it. I suppose you can make the decision about if this is the correct approach to the new holocaust memorial. The shifting mentality of the German people are not reflected in the approach of the new memorial in my opinion. I know that social ideologies are a dynamic and shifting amorphous blob but for Eisenman to chose the past over the present was a lapse in judgement in my opinion. Is it the very nature of the memorial to be reminicsent of the past or should they become becons that help mold our future? I feel that there could have been a more eloquent expression dedicated to this event but I will hold my tounge because architecture is meant to be experianced not looked at. ¶ 12:46 PM
Today I have chosen a file by Marian Marzynski who is reporting about the new monument by Peter Eisenman going up in Berlin near Potsdamerplatz (excuse my spelling). He interviews the project coordinators, architect, and people of Berlin about the issue of the monument and holocaust itself.
I will touch on the design by Eisenman later but first I want to comment about the mentality of the German people. Post holocaust Germany is a very unique situation. The analogy that comes to mind when people talk about post-holocaust Germany is that of a individual coming into conciousness of a horrible mistake they have made. At first they go through the initial shock of realization which is an evident step but what happens next becomes what is of interest. Do they move toward reconciliation or denile? This is where the true character of the individual comes out. A proud person will try and push the blame away, casting the blame on some external factor beyond their control. A more timid person will say silent but secretly resent the accusations. It is never a simple situation.
At the end of the first clip, Marian and a jewish artist are thrown off a site where a memorial is being put up and they talk about the frustration of German's being constantly reminded of the holocaust. Like a thorn that cant be pulled out... and goes deeper the more your pick at it. Feelings are never homogenous but the character of the people can be generalized. I suppose the fact that they have allowed such monuments and museums to go up shows that the German elite have decided to reconcile the errors of their fathers. Yet, the people themselves are torn. Unlike the Japanese, they dont deny the crimes that happened during the war but they stay silent and dont talk about it. It makes sense, afterall who would willingly publicly display their flaws? Perhaps it is too soon for the German people to come to terms with it. Afterall it is easier for those who didn't partake to set things aside... if that makes sense. They address this issue in the second clip and I think they are going about it the right way. Each generation has to approach it their own way because this is the only way that the holocaust would mean anything.
The point is, the holocaust must not be forgotten because if you forget then you are bound to repeat your mistakes. Holocaust has happened before and will most certainly happen again but for the civilized world to repeat such a... irrational and carnal action would be a tragedy and grave mistake. So what must be done? Obviously my generation of German will not, and should not have the guilt of the holocaust burdned upon them. Afterall, it wasn't their actions or decisions directly that propogated the holocaust. It reminds me of the saying: Should a son pay for a father's mistake? Afterall, a similar situation could have as easily arised in India, Argentina, Iceland, or Australia. I will not suppose why it came about because there are numerous disserations about this. What becomes important is to remember and to understand why.
This is where the memorial comes in. There is already a holocaust museum in Berlin designed by Daniel Libeskind. Architecture and design is an act of representation and to a lesser degree, function. Architecture, by its very etymology, is just that, an primal dwelling. If you look at vernacular architecture around the world, they are representative of the locale and people. The buildings in the pacific are open and cool because its hot and the breeze tempers the wood so that they have to be concious of the moisture. In Sweden the same wooden homes are made of the heavy swedish timber abundant in the forest and they are heavily insulated against the bitter cold. So the approach that Eisenman used in this memorial is very pragmatic in the terms of approach. He describes the undulation of the stone slabs as reminiscent of head stones. That is what they teach you in school, to find the analogy... and symbolism behind the subject and impose your own flair to it. I suppose you can make the decision about if this is the correct approach to the new holocaust memorial. The shifting mentality of the German people are not reflected in the approach of the new memorial in my opinion. I know that social ideologies are a dynamic and shifting amorphous blob but for Eisenman to chose the past over the present was a lapse in judgement in my opinion. Is it the very nature of the memorial to be reminicsent of the past or should they become becons that help mold our future? I feel that there could have been a more eloquent expression dedicated to this event but I will hold my tounge because architecture is meant to be experianced not looked at. ¶ 12:46 PM
