Political Debate Surrounding the Neue Wache
Insinuates an equality among victims.
Victims are memorialized with their murderers.


The sterility of this traditional memorial does not confront the horrors of the Holocaust.

The traditional form and government sponsorship of the memorial denegrates the necessary respect to these victims. 		Chancellor Kohl's dedication of the "Central Memorial to the Victims of War and Tyranny" sparked a heated debate. This national memorial encompasses any and every victim of both World Wars, of political persecution, of post-1945 Soviet domination, and of the Nazi regime, thus memorializing concentration camp victims, soldiers, and camp guards in the same location. Furthermore, the building has been the home of four consecutive memorials by four very different governments. The implied equality of victims angers many Germans, as does the location and the presence of guards outside.

The Käthe Kollwitz sculpture of a mother mourning her dead son also divides public opinion. Some argue that the Christian pieta symbol (created by a socialist) excludes Jewish victims, as well as the women who died in World War II. The German Parliament agreed to the dedication of Neue Wache only in conjunction with the construction of a memorial to European Jews.



The guards posted outside the Neue Wache are a sign of sincerity and honor.

The guards are a further embodiment of fascist and militaristic tendencies.
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