Christine Jackob-Marks, a Berlin painter, designed the winning project--a 108,000 square foot tilted concrete slab in which the names of 4.2 million of the Jewish victims would be engraved. Eighteen boulders from Masada, one for each of the death camps would be scattered on the tombstone. (In the Jewish tradition, one leaves small stones at the gravesite to mark one's visit. Eighteen is the number of death camps and in Hebrew represents chai, or life.) Small pathways would be weaved through the names. One the far end, the gravestone would be 3 stories high.
The intention seems right, but too literal--too gargantuan. Masada was the last Jewish stronghold against the Romans, and, rather than be taken as slaves, the Jewish defenders committed collective suicide. Here, though, the basic idea of using stones and the number 18 seemed sound, the history of Masada would substantiate the view of the Holocaust as self-sacrifice and victims as martyrs.
	The names were said to be too many and not enough. Originally the names were to include both first and last names. Later, when the committee realized that the names would be too small to read, the gravestone was to have only first names. This would have led to an anonymity of victims--exactly the opposite effect desired. In order to raise money for the engraving process, Lea Rosh suggested asking for donations. The first hundred thousand names would have been paid for by the government, but for the next 4.1 million names would come from donations. This atrocious idea was derided by just about everyone in Germany as the "sponsor a Jew" program.