Berlin Jewish Museum

The New York Times has a fairly negative review of the Jewish Museum here.

I think it's too harsh - some of the criticisms are fair enough, but others are too much of the form "this isn't X, and X would be great, so this is bad." And I'm also not on board with the author's view that the larger Holocaust Memorial (near the American Embassy) is more effective. The Memorial seemed to me to be both too transparent in its symbolism (suggesting a graveyard), but also too easy to mentally skim over. It's composed of giant blocks, and while the idea is that you should walk between then, it's too easy to think of getting on top of them and hopping around (which I saw plenty of people doing). And that destroys any sense of gravity. So I thought, anyway.

The Museum, by contrast, has two abstract memorials, and both really struck me. I'll probably go back with Naomi and my mom when they're here later this month.