Memorial Park of Concentration Camp "Płaszów"

Cracow, Poland, 2007

"The salvation of the Jewish people lies in surviving the bitter herbs which cover over fields of patience."
from "The book of Questions", Edmund Jabès

The extermination camp in Płaszów no longer physically exists, but it is still alive in the collective memory of those who cannot forget it. The commemoration of suffering is a difficult task, as no words or images can express it. Neither an information board, nor barbed wire, nor large, rough stones, nor lengthy climbs or dark descents can impart the emotions experienced by those who once suffered and who now visit the site.

Thus, the only possibility to commemorate suffering is an interaction with the terrain upon which the suffering occurred. Allusions presented through form and colour allow the visitor to understand to some degree the meaning of what happened.

In our particular design, no new elements that belong to the past are introduced. It uses only forms present on the camp and introduces new associations and symbolic metamorphoses. The black bitumen of the roads and the Appelplatz contrast with the yellow flowers, Brassica Napus, within the frame of rectangular barracks. The past and the present are reconciled.