Work begins on Berlin Holocaust memorial

The first symbolic spadeful of earth has been removed from a huge site in central Berlin set aside to commemorate the six million Jews who died in the Nazi Holocaust.

The memorial - a vast field of nearly 3,000 concrete columns - is to be built near the Brandenburg Gate and the site of Hitler's wartime bunker.

The BBC Berlin correspondent says the memorial's location is as important as the design itself.

Our correspondent says the $22m project is a huge gesture of German national remorse.

The start of construction ends a decade of argument surrounding the size and style of a suitable holocaust tribute.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service