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| Design Sketch |
A new memorial monument for the murdered Jews of the Podgorze Ghetto in Krakow was inaugurated on
8 December 2005. The winning project by Krakow architects
Piotr Lewicki and
Kazimierz Łatak
included 33 illuminated chairs (1.4 m high) in the square and 37 smaller chairs (1.2 m high) standing on the
edge of the square and at the tram stops. They called their project "Nowy Plac Zgody" which means "New Concordia Square".
The fundamental symbolical idea behind the project is a stylistic representation of all the old furniture
being thrown out onto the so-called
Umschlagplatz at the Podgorze Ghetto, when the inhabitants of the
ghetto had finally been assembled by the German SS in so-called
Aktionen to be sent to death (mainly to
Belzec).
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| 31 December 2005 |
The monument is located at
Plac Bohaterów Getta
(the Ghetto Heroes' Square), before 1948 known as
Plac Zgody
(the Concordia Square) - a name still often used locally. The chairs are the main part of the monument
which includes also a marking of the former ghetto walls in the pavement, and
a place to burn memorial candles (in the small building on the square).
Photographer
Paul Kubisztal (kubis@inetia.pl) from Krakow took the remarkable
photo for ARC of this new "Empty Chairs Memorial" (not an official name) on
31 December 2005.
© ARC 2006
