Holocaust Memorial, Judenplatz, Vienna, Austria

Rachel Whiteread

2000

Image
Small rectangular building made of steel and concrete with double doors on square base next to city buildings.
Whiteread’s memorial for Austrian Jewish victims of the Holocaust is located in Vienna in a square known as the Judenplatz. Sometimes called the Nameless Library, the steel and concrete structure has a façade meant to resemble shelves of books with their spines turned inward. Its double doors have no doorknobs or handles. Twelve feet high, twenty-four feet wide, and thirty-three feet long, the memorial also resembles a bunker and the artist confirmed that military fortifications were one inspiration for its design. Not meant to be beautiful, it was intended to provoke discomfort by making public a shame that some would prefer would remain hidden. The Judenplatz is also the site of a medieval synagogue that was burned down in 1420 during anti-Jewish violence. Recent excavations have revealed the remains of the synagogue below the square.

Credits

Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 10.

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