Holocaust Memorial of Berlin

Another stop on our tour was the memorial to the Jews killed in the Holocaust (just for the Jewish people, they have separate memorials for the other groups that are either built or are currently under construction).  The memorial is a series of large grey blocks in different heights.  The outside has blocks short enough to walk over while the center has tall blocks that loom over you, closing you in, as you walk through.  There are over 2,000 blocks in all and the memorial takes about a block of the City (near the Brandenburg gate...and across the street from Hitler's bunker...so pretty centrally located).  So far, sounds good: the location, the looming blocks that cause you to question their meaning, and the fact that the Germans are acknowledging the responsibility for one of the largest crimes against humanity.  However there is one major problem with the memorial that visitors cannot simply ignore: the anti-graffiti paint. 

The Grey smooth blocks do not have a single mark anywhere on all 2,000 of them.  No "John + Kate = <3" from school children and no profanity due to the very expensive anti-graffiti paint.  Any markings, paint, blood, dirt...anything just wipes right off.  The idea of it, I'm sure, was to preserve the integrity and serious nature of the memorial.  The glaring problem comes not from the product but the product's manufacturer...who has a history of business with the Germans.  The company that manufactures and sells the paint is the same company that manufactured and sold Zyclon B (the gas used in the chambers by the Nazi's to murder over 6 million Jews).  This company has made a profit from killing and remembering those they killed.