Concrete-filled Brutalism and Historical Memory that Testifies Brutality

Geometric shapes and rough surfaces, which highlight the natural materials of the construction, are the main features that characterise the direction of architecture called brutalism. The name of brutalism that prospered in the architecture of the 1960s and 1980s is associated with the technology of finishing the external surface of buildings with raw concrete [french béton brut].Sculptor Alfonsas Vincentas Ambraziūnas, architects Vytautas Vielius and Gediminas Baravykas, inspired by the style of brutalism, created a memorial complex of Kaunas Ninth Fort, which still commemorates the victims of Nazism. During the construction of the memorial complex near the Ninth Fort, a low concrete fence marked the site of the massacre, a monument to the victims of Nazism, a memorial museum [now the Occupation Exposition], administration building and a path connecting all these objects were built. The architecture of the buildings used a rough reinforced concrete mass that was given the texture of wooden boards.The monument to the memory of the victims of Nazism consists of a composition of three sculptural groups. The massive sculptures swing towards each other, they intersect and intertwine. They have rough, strong figures and faces tormented with grief, but also filled with determination. The lowest sculptural group symbolises ...

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