page_title: Platz des Unsichtbaren Mahnmals
hierarchical_section_title: Platz des Unsichtbaren Mahnmals
caption_attribution_description: Saarbrücker Schloss - Mahnmal
context_page_description: The Platz des Unsichtbaren Mahnmals - or in English, the Place of the Invisible Memorial – is a memorial to Jewish cemeteries. It is located in Saarbrücken, capital of the German state of the Saarland. To the visitor, the memorial is completely invisible – it only appears as a sign at the place, reading "Platz des Unsichtbaren Mahnmals".
  In April 1990, art professor Jochen Gerz and several of his students began, in secrecy, to dig up cobblestones from the place in front of the Saarbrücken castle. The underside of the stones were then engraved with the names of German Jewish cemeteries, and afterwards they were returned to the place, with the inscription facing downwards. They chose the fore court of Saarbrücken Castle because a dependency of the Secret State Police, or Gestapo, was located in the castle during the time of national socialism.
  In August 1991, the idea was taken up by the city council of Saarbrücken, and it decided to implement it legally. In the end, a total of 2146 location names of Jewish cemeteries, which had existed until their destruction by the Nazi regime in 1933, were engraved into the cobblestones, and again placed back into the fore court of the castle.
context_section_description: The Platz des Unsichtbaren Mahnmals - or in English, the Place of the Invisible Memorial – is a memorial to Jewish cemeteries. It is located in Saarbrücken, capital of the German state of the Saarland. To the visitor, the memorial is completely invisible – it only appears as a sign at the place, reading "Platz des Unsichtbaren Mahnmals".
  In April 1990, art professor Jochen Gerz and several of his students began, in secrecy, to dig up cobblestones from the place in front of the Saarbrücken castle. The underside of the stones were then engraved with the names of German Jewish cemeteries, and afterwards they were returned to the place, with the inscription facing downwards. They chose the fore court of Saarbrücken Castle because a dependency of the Secret State Police, or Gestapo, was located in the castle during the time of national socialism.
  In August 1991, the idea was taken up by the city council of Saarbrücken, and it decided to implement it legally. In the end, a total of 2146 location names of Jewish cemeteries, which had existed until their destruction by the Nazi regime in 1933, were engraved into the cobblestones, and again placed back into the fore court of the castle. The memorial intends to portray the neglect of the German past.
caption: A plaque denoting the memorial was unveiled on May 23, 1993.
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 400D DIGITAL", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2007:02:23 22:40:44", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "236", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1062", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4662", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/125", "EXIF FNumber": "8", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:02:23 16:17:13", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:02:23 16:17:13", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "228255/32768", "EXIF ApertureValue": "6", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "2/3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "55", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1902", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "929", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "936", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "3888000/877", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "432000/97", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}