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Berlin (dpa) - Work began Wednesday in Berlin on a temporary visitor centre next to the Holocaust Monument in central Berlin.
Thousands of visitors tour the stark field of concrete pillars every week and learn about the Nazi murder of 6 million Jews at the documentation centre integrated with the memorial, but facilities for basic human needs are lacking.
The first sod was turned Wednesday for a new building of timber and glass that will house toilets, cafes and a bookstore from April for the next three years. The owner said it might then be torn down.
Last August, municipal officials in the German capital banned a sausage stand near the monument saying it was too undignified for the site, which was designed by architect Peter Eisenman and inaugurated in May 2005.
Copyright 2006 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
