Set on fire on November 9, 1938, the Liberal Synagogue at 48-50 Lindenstraße (today Axel-Springer-Straße) was partially destroyed and eventually torn down. The present memorial originated from a competition started by the health insurance company Barmer Ersatzkasse. The plain benches, whose position correspond exactly with the ground plan of the synagogue, symbolize one page or one “sheet” of the prayer book. Multiple layers of time come together at the memorial - parallel to the text of the Talmud. The benches represent the past, the trees and bushes surrounding them symbolize the destruction of the past; and the fire lane that is winding through the area evokes the present in terms of of Berlin’s building regulations. It is “a narrative about loss.”