Wall of names. Walking along the second platform, we see a projection of 774 names. These are the names of the deportees who left with the first two convoys, that of December 6, 1943 and January 30, 1944 headed directly to Auschwitz. It acts as a symbol of all the deportees who left from this place. Of the names projected, in white are those who left but did not survive, and in orange, the 27 people who survived and returned, and the only one still alive today is Senator Liliana Segre. The architects chose these names as a symbol, representing all the other deportees, because these are the only ones on which there is sufficient information, as a lot of data is missing about non-Jewish deportees. We owe our knowledge of these people to the researchers of the CDEC Foundation.
The Place of Reflection. The place of reflection acts as a place of prayer. It is symbolically connected to other such locations around the world, listed on the poster at the start of the ramp, such as the meditation room in New York and the Rothko chapel in Houston. It is a space that does not belong to someone specifically but to everyone, so it is secular by definition. You might notice that the circular walking path is vaguely unstable, which doesn’t let you feel at ease, but instead makes you stay alert all throughout the walk. This contrasts with the Observatory: the latter led us from the present to the past, while this room is facing upwards, where a beam of light brings us back to hope for a better tomorrow, which shows the balance of the two sides of the Memorial. The Place of Reflection represents the transition between the Memorial area, the one we already visited, and that of the Library, the documentation center, the Auditorium, which signifies the future. Installed in the floor, a shiny brass bar points to the East, to Jerusalem: the holy city for three monotheistic religions and the city to which observant Jews turn three times a day in prayer. It symbolizes the invitation to meet in diversity, in search of common points for a peaceful coexistence.
