Platz der Jüdischen Deportierten (Square of the Deported Jews and Monument for the Deported Jews) Location: The green area lying at the apex of the triangle formed at the junction of Edmund-Siemers-Allee and Moorweidenstraße. Local Transport: S21/S31 Dammtor Bus 102 direction Niendorf-Markt, Staatsbibliothek. Platz der Jüdischen Deportierten/Square of the Deported Jews The Platz der Jüdischen Deportierten is a triangular green area lying between Moorweidenstraße and Edmund-Siemers-Allee which fronts the Privincial Masonic Lodge and lies adjacent to the Hamburg University main building. In the years 1941/42 thousands of Hamburg Jews were assembled here for deportation to the concentration and extermination camps. Monument for the Deported Jews Plans to erect a commemorative stone on this spot were initiated in 1980 through a dialogue between private and political initiatives and the Jewish Community. In 1982 the Department for the Arts commissioned Ulrich Rückriem (born 1938), at that time professor at the Hamburg College of Art, to construct a memorial. The dedication ceremony took place in January 1982. The commemorative stone, a 4 metre high, 2 metre wide and 0·7 metre thick granite block, stands in the left base angle of the isosceles triangle shaped green area. Ulrich Rückriem proceeded with the project according to his charateristic method of working. In 1968 the artist had developed his individual concept of dividing up stone. Rückriem took a block of Finnish granite weighing 35 metric tonnes, one of his favourite materials, and divided it into seven separate sections: three foundation stones, three columns and a roofing slab. These separate sections were then reassembled. Precise horizontal and vertical dividing lines reveal the block to be a reassembled unity of its divided sections. The regularly spaced holes along these dividing lines and the notches on the outer edges of the skulpture reveal where the chisel was driven into the stone in the process of dividing up the block. Rückriem proportioned the separate sections so that the lengths of the edges are divisible by seven, a significant number (however, not a "sacred" number) within Judaism. The stone is intended to arouse associations with the Western Wall/Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. Despite such references Rückriem's artistic stance corresponds more with minimal and conceptual art such as developed in the 1960s by the american artists Donald Judd and Sol LeWitt. The philosophy of this movement was that skulptures were objects in themselves and were not representative of anything. Rückriem extended this approach by focusing on the object's "presence". The material of the stone is highlighted thereby denighing its functionality as a memorial. Accordingly, the granite block is not engraved with any explanatory inscription. The rough natural surface of the stone with its visible signs of the working process speaks for itself. Two Plaques situated on Edmund-Siemers-Allee. The Hamburg Department for the Arts has erected plaques at the three corners of the triangular area on Edmund-Siemers-Allee. Two read: Im Jahr 1933 lebten in Hamburg 24.000 Juden Hier began der Weg tausender jüdischer Bürger Hamburgs der in den Vernichtungslagen des Nazi Regimes endete. Memorial Plaque at the corner of Moorweidenstraße and Schlüterstraße. The plaque at the corner of Moorweidenstraße and Schlüterstraße, in accord with the Jewish Community, reads: DEM GEDENKEN AN DIE JÜDISCHEN BÜRGER HAMBURGS DIE IN DEN TAGEN DER NATIONALSOZIALISTISCHEN GEWALTHERRSCHAFT ZU THAUSENDEN VON DIESEM PLATZ IN DEN TOD GESCHICHT WURDEN. VERGESST ES NICHT SEID WACHSAM. "In remembrance of the Jewish citizens of Hamburg who, during the National Socialist tyranny, were sent from this place to their deaths in their thousands. Remember always, remain vigilant". This, however, has not prevented criticism of the abstract and inscriptionless memorial. "In remembrance of the Jewish citizens of Hamburg who, during the National Socialist tyranny, were sent from this place to their deaths in their thousands. Remember always, remain vigilant". This, however, has not prevented criticism of the abstract and inscriptionless memorial. It was Rückriem's understanding that the monument constituted the entire expanse of the Square of the Deported. The plaques erected at the three angles of the triangular green area were not part of his original conception. These were erected in 1989 on the occasion of the official naming of the area as "Square of the Deported", within the framework of the so-called "Black Plaques" programm, within which the City of Hamburg erected explanatory commemorative plaques in all places connected with atrocities perpetrated by the National Socialist tyranny.