At first glance, The Evidence Room appears to be a modest space with a few unassuming objects all painted white, but a closer look reveals something much darker. The textured white walls are composed of memos between Nazis and architects, technical details of gas chambers, and floor plans for Auschwitz—the most lethal concentration camp Nazis built during the Holocaust.
Read more at The Washington City Paper.
Architecture embodies the spirit of innovation and design. “Architecture is my delight, and putting up and pulling down, one of my favorite amusements,” Thomas Jefferson, who has been described as the “father of” American architecture, commented on his passion. Architects are both creative and extremely technical. Their problem-solving skills have been utilized to overcome incredible challenges. Architects, too, can use this skill set to commit unspeakable evil.
Nazi architects used their hybrid abilities of crafting innovative plans and ensuring technical perfection to assist in the Holocaust. Without the murderous innovations Nazi architects created and refined, the Nazis would never have been able to design and advance the world’s most ruthless killing machine, the concentration camp, and use it in an attempt to exterminate the Jewish race.
Read more at the Jewish Journal – ‘The Evidence Room’: When Skills Are Used for Evil
The Evidence Room will open at the Hirshhorn Museum of Modern Art on June 12, 2019. You can read more about the exhibit on the Hirshhorn’s website.