Obj. ID: 49085
Modern Jewish Art  Abandoned Room Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, Germany, 1988-1996

Memorial Name

The Abandoned Room (Der verlassene Raum)

Who is Commemorated?

Victims of Kristallnacht

Description:

In a small urban park in the center of what was once a Jewish neighborhood, is a realistic sculpture that depicts a table and two chairs seemingly set on a parquet floor. One chair is by the table, while the other is knocked over and lies on the floor on the other side. All the elements appear cast from actual wood pieces and present an intense sense of reality. The impression is that this room was abandoned in a hurry.

Around the edge of the “floor” are inscribed lines from a poem by Nobel Prize winner Nelly Sachs, from her poem “O die Schornsteine” (“O the Chimneys”), published in 1947, which evokes the crematoria of the Death Camps. 

Inscriptions

German

…O die Wohnungen des Todes, 
Einladend hergerichtet 
Für den Wirt des Hauses, der sonst Gast war- 
O ihr Finger 
Die Eingangsschwelle legend 
Wie ein Messer zwischen Leben und Tod –
O ihr Schornsteine, 
O ihr Finger, 
Und Israels Leib im Rauch durch die Luft! – Nelly Sachs

Translation: …Oh the houses of death / invitingly appointed / or the landlord of the house who was once a guest / Oh you fingers, / Laying the threshold / like a knife between life and death / Oh, you chimney stacks, / Oh you fingers, / And the body of Israel going up in smoke!  Nelly Sachs

Commissioned By

[To be added]