In Berlin, Germany, just south of the Brandenburg Gate, across the street from the eastern edge of the Tiergarten park, lies the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, A K A the Holocaust Memorial, and also referred to colloquially as the Stelenfeld, the Field of Stelae, in reference to the 2711 concrete slabs (or stelae) that comprise the memorial.

The stelae vary in perceived height from low to monumental as the viewer walks along the wavily sloping paths along a grid of stelae, 54 of them going north–south, and 87 heading east–west, in a field spanning 4.7 acres.

It is a powerful memorial that is most effectively viewed and walked in person. I hope these photos will give some sense of the experience.

Across the street from the Holocaust Memorial, just after one enters the Tiergarten, stands the Memorial for Persecuted Homosexuals. Carved into a stark concrete prism 3.60 meter high and 1.90 meter wide is a small window through which one can see a short video loop depicting a homosexual love scene. The film is changed in regular intervals. The one Ed and I saw this spring also included documentary footage of Gay life in the 1920s and 1930s, with references to the criminalization of homosexuality.