Berlin
Work on the Holocaust memorial in Berlin was temporarily stopped this week amid revelations that one of the construction firms had supplied the gas for Nazi death chambers. Degussa, a chemical company that was going to cover the monument’s concrete pillars with a graffiti-proof coating, was affiliated with Degesch, the now-defunct company that delivered Zyklon B to Auschwitz. The memorial’s trustees quickly revoked Degussa’s contract and found another firm to deliver the coating. The memorial was begun only last month, after more than 10 years of debate and delays. When completed, it will consist of 2,700 concrete pillars spread out over 6,000 square feet in central Berlin, near the Brandenburg Gate.
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