The Jewish Museum in Berlin is one of the most striking examples of Libeskind's architecture as the building itself emulates the pain and destruction of the Holocaust. The decision to undertake the Jewish Museum project was a difficult one to make for Libeskind, whose own parents were Holocaust survivors. On receiving an honorary doctorate from Humboldt University in Berlin, Libeskind claimed he thought of himself "not as an architect of just another nationality doing a German project, but rather as someone who has no identity; himself a product of the Holocaust era".

 
The Jewish Museum was a turning point in Libeskind's career as, although he was lecturing in universities across the world and already celebrated in academic circles, his designs had never come to fruition and, as a result, were seen to be largely theoretical abstractions. Libeskind's recent success has drawn criticism from some architects who accuse him of pandering to the public in stunts such as wearing cowboy boots to assert his 'American-ness' in the competition for the World Trade Centre project. Perhaps it is Libeskind's working class background that sets him apart from most fellow architects and allows him to dismiss these claims by pointing out that "architecture's not for an elite. It's the real world."

 

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