A steel cube holding a gas-fed flame in Munich

A latticed steel cube sits at the top of a basalt stele. It functions as a symbolic dungeon. Inside this steel cube, a gas-fed flame burns constantly, an eternal light intended to represent the lives lost under the National Socialist dictatorship.

The memorial occupies the Platz der Opfer des Nationalsozialismus, a corner where Brienner Straße meets Maximiliansplatz in the Old Town. It was not always this specific arrangement of stone and steel. In 1962, a different marker stood here - a granite stone designed by Karl Oppenrieder. That original piece was meant only as a temporary measure, a placeholder for a more permanent memory. It remained in this spot for over two decades until the city began redesigning the square in the early 1980s.

By the mid-1980s, the city opened a competition to find a permanent tribute. The design eventually selected was the work of Andreas Sobeck, a sculptor from Winzer. Sobeck’s monument is approximately six meters high, balancing a basalt stele with a latticed steel cube. The monument was officially handed over on November 8, 1985, during a ceremony led by the then-Mayor of Munich, Georg Kronawitter.

In the years since its installation, the site has seen changes. Following a series of renovations completed in 2014, a bronze plaque was added to the installation. This strip of bronze, measuring 18.5 meters in length and 1.30 meters in height, sits behind the eternal flame. It carries the formal inscription in German: "Im Gedenken an die Opfer der nationalsozialistischen Gewaltherrschaft."

Today, the memorial serves as a memory for the victims of the National Socialist dictatorship. Visitors see the transition from the basalt base to the open lattice of the top. The original 1962 granite stone, once a temporary guest here, was moved to Neuhausener Platz der Freiheit. The current site remains a study in contrast, where the permanence of stone meets the steel cube.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons