M e m o r i a l   a t   t h e   M a r k e t   H a l l   F r a n k f u r t / M a i n

Open Design Competition

2nd Prize (Competition without 1st Prize)   05/10

Ulrike Böhm, Cyrus Zahiri, Katja Benfer, Anna-Kajsa
Gustavsson, Mirjam Sauer, Rita Leal, Pilar Morilla,
Christina Bös, David González Ferreño

Between 1941 and 1945 more than 11000 Jews were deported from Frankfurt/Main to concentration and extermination camps in eastern Europe. Most of these deportations took place in the Market Hall, the wholesale market hall. This is one example of the fact that the Nazi persecution and deportation of Jews often was closely integrated in everyday life.

In this context, the memorial should:

- make passers-by and visitors aware of the site,
- mark the site,
- give the visitors a sense of the events that took place there
- and give possibilities for remembrance, mourning and reflection.

The memorial is inserted as a special point in the green corridor along the railway and thus integrated in everyday use. The memorial area is accentuated by a change of paving.

The memorial comprises the areas in front of and under the railway bridge; the pedestrian bridge with its stone access stair; the signal box and the pumping station; the rails; the fence and the access ramp to the cellar of the Market Hall. Only the areas around the railway bridge and the pedestrian bridge are publicly accessible.

The visitors should gradually perceive the sequence and dimension of the deportations. For a better understanding of the events, victims, perpetrators and onlookers are assigned specific elements in the memorial. Each element has a visual connection with the Großmarkthalle and includes an information band, in which complementary data can be incorporated.

From our point of view only limited additional information is necessary. The appropriate relationship between artefacts and information has to be decided in cooperation with representatives of the Jewish Museum Frankfurt and experts on the history of the site.

To approach the historical events and reflect on their meaning, it is important to stop and spend some time on the site. To that purpose the northwestern border of the area is framed by a long concrete bench containing information pannels.

The existing artefacts are the Market Hall, the pedestrian bridge with its access stair and the signal box. Their authenticity is only partly certain. All existing artefacts are kept. For a better understanding of the context it seems important to reconstruct a part of the rail area as well as a section of the wire mesh fence. These elements are clearly new additions and are not feigning authenticity.