June 09, 2005
9/11 Memorial Update - IIIRichard Tofel, president of the International Freedom Center, has written an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal to address concerns raised by Debra Burlingame. We hope to have more on this later. Here is our original post on this subject.
UPDATE: One of Ms. Burlingame's contentions relates to size
While the IFC is getting 300,000 square feet of space to teach us how to think about liberty, the actual Memorial Center on the opposite corner of the site will get a meager 50,000 square feet to exhibit its 9/11 artifacts, all out of sight and underground. Most of the cherished objects which were salvaged from Ground Zero in those first traumatic months will never return to the site.Mr. Tofel states that
the Memorial Center, a museum devoted to the events of September 11 itself, with exhibit space roughly equal in size to that at the International Freedom Center. The Memorial Center will tell the stories of the day--of heroism and sacrifice, of rescue and service, of courage and resolution, of memory and loss. It is the Memorial Center that will contain the iconic artifacts of September 11.In a separate e-mail, he stressed that, in addition to the exhibit space at the Memorial Center, the memorial design will occupy two acres. There is a clear discrepancy here that should be easy to resolve, and we hope to do so.
Posted by Jonathan R. on June 9, 2005 08:51 AM
Comments
Ms. Burlingame mentioned the square footage, but I don't think that was her point.
It was less about space and more about content.
Posted by: Robert ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.gopbloggers.org/nav-commenters.gif)
at June 9, 2005 12:08 PM
Don't fall for Dick Tofel's line. The 9/11 memorial center is going underground, virtually in the basement of his building. If you opening a museum which would you like, the nice, big one above ground, or the other one underground? Why doesn't he switch? What do you think the chance of that are?
Besides, it doesn't matter; two sq feet given over to this nonsense at ground zero is to much. Why does Sept. 11 need their illumination? Can not the history of the day, through the artifacts and remnants speak for themselves? Would we ever put such a museum at Auchwitz? It's important to note that Tofel's little monument to their brilliance does not include any examination upon the evil of men. They see the attacks entirely in a political context, allowing for the debate on whether America's policies are somehow to blame.
The artifacts we all remember cannot be returned to ground zero, under the current plan and they won't be; the facade will go underground? What sense does that make? And the Sphere? Give me a break.
Check the IFC's website; they've revamped it in response to this criticism; they actually claim the 9/11 memorial center will "dwarf" their center. From underground. There's a word for that and it begins with a "B." Baloney. That's not it.
It's worth noting that this memorial that takes up 4 acres or whatever has no more of Sept. 11 in it than the IFC; it's dedicated not to the events of 9/11 but to us. Take Michael Arad's word for it: "I wanted to express the absence in our lives brought upon by these deaths."
Which is worse there - referring to those murdered 9/11 as "these deaths" and regarding them only as they affected us, or describing the crime as "brought upon by these deaths?" What was it, a mass suicide? Some horrendous accident? A mass alien abduction? Who knows? You can't tell by visiting "Reflecting Absence."
Which is exactly why is was chosen.
Posted by: Michael Burke at June 14, 2005 05:59 PM
