Holocaust Memorial Architect Criticizes Degussa Exclusion

The U.S. architect Peter Eisenman, designer of Berlin’s much-delayed Holocaust memorial, has criticized the decision to exclude the Düsseldorf-based chemical manufacturer Degussa from the project. Over the weekend, the foundation for the "Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe" decided Degussa should not supply anti-graffiti coating for the memorial’s 2,700 concrete pillars since the firm’s former subsidiary supplied the “Zyklon B” poison gas used in Nazi death camps. Writing in the weekly newspaper Die Zeit, Eisenman said the project was becoming a hostage to political correctness. “If the project had started in the spirit that it is now threatening to continue in, I wouldn’t have taken part,” he said. In the planning for over 15 years, there have been numerous disputes over the monument’s location, design, cost and building materials.