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Gas row hits Holocaust memorial
BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) -- All work on Germany's new Holocaust memorial has stopped because of a row over a contract with chemicals firm Degussa, which used to part-own a supplier of cyanide to Nazi death camps, German media said on Saturday. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper said the foundation in charge of the "Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe" decided on Thursday to seek another manufacturer of anti-graffiti chemicals being used in the building work. German television said the report was confirmed by Lea Rosh, who launched the campaign to build the monument in 1988. The newspaper did not say when work would resume on the monument, which will consist of a maze of 2,700 pillars on a site a stone's throw from the landmark Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag parliament building at Berlin's heart. Only a handful of pillars have been erected since building work started in August. When finished, some will rest on a bunker used by Adolf Hitler's chief propagandist, Joseph Goebbels. Degussa was in Nazi times one of the parent companies of Degesch, the supplier of "Zyklon B" hydrogen cyanide gas pellets to concentration camps. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said several of the foundation's members had spoken out against the firm's involvement, including Alexander Brenner, head of Berlin's Jewish community. A spokeswoman for Degussa AG said she was aware of the newspaper report but declined to comment. Foundation chairman Wolfgang Thierse, the president of the Bundestag lower house of Germany's parliament, also declined to comment. A Bundestag spokesman said Sibylle Quack, the foundation's executive officer, may make a statement on Monday or Tuesday. Lobbying for the memorial started in 1988, but the project was repeatedly held up by disputes over its location, design, cost, building materials and a demand by the German parliament for an information centre to be incorporated at the site. Designed by U.S. architect Peter Eisenman, the much-delayed memorial is scheduled for completion in 2005. Copyright 2003 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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