The cross of Holocaust borne by the German people is all too large and heavy. During the Second World War, the Nazis drove 6 million innocent Jews to their death, and both the death toll itself and the methods used were unprecedented in human history.

The German people will forever bear in their hearts a collective sense of atonement.

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe recently built in the vicinity of the Brandenburg Gate is one expression of such a sense.

In an extensive clear space, as many as 2,711 concrete blocks are aligned in a large grid. They are cold stone blocks without decorations, characters or any other additions. All of the blocks have the same ground area, but vary in their heights, from around hip height of a normal adult, to taller than a man.

Are they stone coffins or stone monuments? When I aimlessly wandered left and right in the narrow passages between the blocks, it felt as though I could hear grief-stricken cries and screams of massacred Jews. My chest tightened as if each block was charged with their sorrows.

There is no form more perfect than this to express mourning for the many victims.