The symbolic center of the memorial complex at the Hollandsche Schouwburg is situated at the rear of the open courtyard. In the middle of the space where the stage of this former theater once stood is a large pylon on a base in the form of a Magen David or Star of David. Behind this memorial needle stands an inscribed stone wall dedicated to the memory of victims that were deported during the German occupation. These sculptural elements are surrounded by crumbled and eroded brick walls that, in contrast to the pylon and inscribed wall, are made of the original components of the building (see figure 2.1). The visitor now stands at a site where an essential part of the persecution of the Jews took place. Where the pylon and grey wall are markers that are clearly not part of the original building, the brick walls create a semi-enclosed and affective space which may be entered in order to somehow make contact with an absent past. The fact these walls were part of the original building is emphasized by the bare and rough bricks pointing toward the sky and is further reinforced by traces of bricked-up doors and other openings, suggesting that these walls have had previous lives. There is no enclosing roof: the top of the walls are unevenly finished and blackened by erosion.

The walls are remnants of the original building that seem to have stood the test of time and are experienced by visitors as silent witnesses to the tragic events that unfolded within this space. They enable and even facilitate an affective experience: what visitors see resonates with their expectations, in this case, absence staged through the trope of the ruin, a technique more often employed at Holocaust sites. The result is convincing because of the building's history: persecuted Jews awaited deportation within these very walls that are now stripped back to their material essence. However, as James E. Young points out, the ruin can be a problematic form of representation at sites such as the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum where the debris of gas chambers represent victims through the intended destruction of evidence by the Nazis.