Landsberg citizens' association in the 20th century

The Landsberg Citizens' Association in the 20th Century V. was founded on November 9, 1983 . On this day, the first memorial service for the 14,500 murdered Jewish concentration camp prisoners of the 11 concentration camps of the Kaufering concentration camp command took place in the concentration camp cemetery of the former concentration camp “Kaufering I” in the town of Landsberg am Lech .

Foundation and beginnings

Eight citizens had come together to preserve the memory of the murder of the Jews on their own doorstep. Among the founding members were a Hungarian-Jewish survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau , a politically persecuted victim of the “Third Reich” and Anton Posset , who was the first chairman of the association until his death in 2015.

The founding of the citizens' association goes back to a suggestion by the then Bavarian Prime Minister Franz Josef Strauss . He was of the opinion that the preservation and monument protection of the last underground bunkers of the former concentration camp “Kaufering VII” could best be carried out by local citizens: as a task against totalitarianism and racism .

One year after the founding, the first memorial stone in the Landsberg / Kaufering area was erected on the foundations of the kitchen barracks of the Kaufering III concentration camp on the initiative of Anton Posset and the citizens' association, together with Viktor Frankl and the Kaufering community . The text of this memorial stone, "Vandalized and sacrificed people admonish you - people do not let go of striving for freedom, peace and justice", was drafted by Anton Posset in a discussion with Viktor Frankl, who later became an honorary member of the citizens' association. The then mayor Jung donated the memorial stone to the municipality of Kaufering. At the inauguration on November 11, 1984, Viktor Frankl was present as a former camp inmate and gave a landmark speech. Then he faced a discussion with district citizens.

Since it was founded, the citizens' association has endeavored to preserve the remains of the former concentration camp Kaufering VII and, with the support of Prime Minister Franz Josef Strauss, achieved monument protection for the concentration camp underground bunkers. The property, which is located in a wooded area between Landsberg and Erpfting, and parts of the remains that were still in existence at the time were acquired in 1985 with the financial support of Alexander Moksel for remembrance work. This happened at a time when memory work was still something unknown in large parts of the population.

In 1989, Anton Posset and the citizens' association initiated the installation of a memorial plaque at the former entrance of the DP camp at what was then Saarburg barracks. Their inscription reminded of the area used by the Wehrmacht before 1945 and later by the Bundeswehr of one of the first DP camps that was exclusively reserved for Jewish displaced persons . Colonel a. D. Irving Heymont, the first commandant of the camp, donated the plaque, the construction of which was supported by both the city of Landsberg and the Bundeswehr. The main speaker was Abraham J. Peck of the American Jewish Archives , who was born in the camp. Another speaker was Simon Snopkowski , a former resident of the camp and at that time president of the Jewish religious communities in Bavaria.

The European Holocaust Memorial and its history

Purchase and conservation of a part of the property from KZ-Kaufering VII

In 1985, the citizens' association acquired part of the area of the former concentration camp and in the following decade began to develop it into a European Holocaust memorial in order to enable the memory of the Holocaust to be remembered permanently and with dignity. Anton Posset was able to convince Alexander Moksel to provide the financial means for the purchase. The bunkers were neglected at the time and were used as a clubhouse by a rocker group, the Devil Knights . Right from the start, the citizens' association looked after the property to ensure its preservation and preservation.

First monument draft

In 1993 a group of young Berlin landscape architects drew up a design for the design of the European Holocaust Memorial. This could not be realized due to numerous resistance and a lack of financial support.

Foundation of the European Holocaust Memorial

The idea of a “European monument against totalitarianism and racism” was born, which should make the European dimension of the Holocaust clear. For this reason, from 1993 onwards a total of 15 European presidents were approached with the request to donate a memorial stone in memory of the victims from the respective country. 10 heads of state (from Lithuania, France, Belgium, Holland, Austria, Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia) complied with this request. Two German Federal Presidents did not want to donate a memorial stone, so the citizens' association itself donated a memorial stone for the German victims. Over the course of several years, new elements were added again and again. For example the 12 steles , which symbolize the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 concentration camps Kaufering / Landsberg, individual victims of the concentration camp Kaufering known by name, the path of human rights and human dignity with its entrance elements and a historical dump truck from the concentration camp Kaufering X , which illustrates the dehumanizing compulsory labor.

Also in 2000 there was a memorial stone with the inscription “Never again” in four different languages, donated by the American / French liberators of the Kaufering concentration camp. The result was the first European Holocaust memorial, which was supported, designed and built up by the association and thus by the bourgeoisie. The memorial was also repeatedly desecrated.

In 2000, the association gained international fame through the collaboration between Anton Posset and the film team of Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks , as a true-to-original replica of the Kaufering IV concentration camp command for the miniseries Band of Brothers - We were like brothers , part 9 “Why we fight ”, was created in England. In the film, the Kaufering camp is liberated, and not Dachau or Auschwitz, as was the case up to now in cinematic portrayals.

Handover of the property to the newly founded association - European Holocaust Memorial Foundation e. V. - The memorial will be a place of national importance

Finally, the memorial was given to the association founded in 2009, the European Holocaust Memorial Foundation e. V., handed over. This was u. a. Six members of the citizens' association founded with the focus on maintaining the property and on preserving the earth bunkers. For this purpose, the new association was provided with the necessary financial means for the planned restoration of the earth bunkers and the preservation of the property.

In the years 2009 to 2012, the citizens' association was entrusted with the management of the European Holocaust Memorial by a management contract from the European Holocaust Memorial Foundation. The management by the citizens' association ended in 2013.

In the same year the memorial became even better known nationally, as a picture of the chairman Anton Posset on the poster for the “Open Monument Day” was selected as the only picture from the state of Bavaria for the national poster. It was the only representation that dealt with a former Jewish concentration camp command and its authentic, archaeological remains in Germany. The motto this year was “Beyond the good and the beautiful: Inconvenient monuments”.

Since 2009, the "Citizens' Association Landsberg in the 20th Century" has focused on advising the foundation association, continuing historical research and commemorative work. The restoration / conservation of the bunkers was successfully completed by the "European Holocaust Memorial Foundation" thanks to public funding for around 800,000 euros and was awarded the Bavarian Monument Prize in gold in 2016.

research

Since 1983, the citizens' association has been securing the last traces of the concentration camp complex of the 11 concentration camp commandos in the city and district of Landsberg and has been collecting materials, documents, sources and contemporary witness reports on the following research areas:

Anti-Jewish tradition in Landsberg in the 19th century
Hitler's imprisonment in Landsberg : 1923/1924
Landsberg “City of Youth” - “Hitler City” - National Socialist pilgrimage site 1935–1945
The concentration camp commandos Kaufering / Landsberg: 1944/1945
Prison for war criminals (. War Crime Prison No. 1) in Landsberg: 1945-1955
The DP camp (Displaced Persons Camp) Landsberg: 1945–1951
Occupation and a new democratic beginning since 1945
History of repression and reappraisal - the unresolved past of the 20th century

Concentration camp archeology - systematic research into the Dachau subcamp complex in Kaufering

It all began with the work of a group of students led by the Bavarian school teacher Anton Posset that 1983/1984 for their research on the concentration camp Kaufering and arms project wood pigeon from the hands of President Karl Carstens the first prize in the student competition German history at the price of the Federal President. At that time only the Jewish cemeteries around Landsberg were known. The historical connection to these was so far little known both in the population and in the local history books. The archives in Dachau and Landsberg were searched for historical material. The exact location of the camps and the associated dimensions of the atrocities could not be recognized on site. The students discovered the last remains of the earth bunkers of the concentration camp Kaufering VII, today's European Holocaust memorial.

Years of evaluating historical sources, aerial photographs, interviews with contemporary witnesses and on-site inspections with contemporary witnesses gradually made it clear where the individual camps were. The results of this work were finally published in special issue 4 - The concentration camp command Kaufering 1944/45: The annihilation of the Jews in the armament project "Ringeltaube" - in the form of a geographical map. The dimensions of this sub-camp were first made visible in 1993 through the work of Anton Posset, Wolfgang Habel and Michael Strasas.

Map with aerial photos of the concentration camps of the Kaufering camp complex

Kaufering I subcamp , Landsberg, near Iglinger Strasse. At the same time SS headquarters . Neither can be seen today. 48 ° 3 '36.9 " N , 10 ° 51' 7.8" E48.0602537 10.8521559
Kaufering II subcamp , Igling 48 ° 2 ′ 59.8 ″ N , 10 ° 49 ′ 22.5 ″ E48.0499468 10.8229218
Kaufering III subcamp , Kaufering 48 ° 4 ′ 53.8 ″ N , 10 ° 51 ′ 50.3 ″ E48.0816065 10.8639754
Concentration camp Schwabmünchen / Kaufering IV (also: Colony Hurlach ) 48 ° 6 ′ 11.5 ″ N , 10 ° 50 ′ 39.2 ″ E48.103189 10.8442252
Subcamp Kaufering V , Utting 48 ° 1 ′ 9.2 ″ N , 11 ° 4 ′ 53.6 ″ E48.01923 11.0815682
Kaufering VI subcamp camp , Türkheim 48 ° 3 ′ 2.8 ″ N , 10 ° 37 ′ 1.8 ″ E48.050774 10.617162
Kaufering VII subcamp , Erpfting , today with a memorial site 48 ° 1 ′ 48 ″ N , 10 ° 51 ′ 8.9 ″ E48.0299958 10.8524659

Subcamp Kaufering VIII , Seestall 47 ° 57 ′ 40.6 ″ N , 10 ° 51 ′ 37.3 ″ E

Kaufering IX subcamp , Obermeitingen 48 ° 7 ′ 56.7 ″ N , 10 ° 48 ′ 43.2 ″ E48.1324156 10.8120137
Subcamp Kaufering X , Utting 48 ° 1 ′ 9.2 ″ N , 11 ° 4 ′ 53.6 ″ E48.01923 11.0815682
Kaufering XI subcamp , Stadtwaldhof (bunker in the Welfen barracks in Landsberg am Lech) 48 ° 2 ′ 33.4 ″ N , 10 ° 50 ′ 17.8 ″ E48.0426215 10.838286
SS labor camp Landsberg am Lech , gym in Penzing air base

Special issues "Landsberg Contemporary History"

In 1986, the citizens 'association published a first publication in the form of a members' brochure about the reappraisal of the history of the time of National Socialism in and around Landsberg. Among other things, texts by Viktor Frankl , the honorary member of the citizens' association, from his book … Say yes to life anyway . The record of the then camp priest Jules Jost , which was used to determine the number of deaths in the concentration camp complex Kaufering, was published there, along with other contemporary documents (letter from Franz Josef Strauss , Viktor Nečas, Tibor Lichtmann, etc.). Jules Jost was interviewed in Luxembourg by Anton Posset and Wolfgang Habel as contemporary witnesses. This brochure was the impetus for the following themed issues.

In the years 1993 to 1996 the association published its research work in various national and international journals using the six “Thematic Issues Landsberger Zeitgeschichte” in addition to countless newspaper articles and letters to the editor. Under the direction of Anton Posset, Manfred Deiler and Michael Strasas as the editors, the topics related to the processing of the largest subcamp complex of the German Reich (issue 4), the war criminals (issue 1), the DP camp in Landsberg (issue 6 ), Adolf Hitler and his imprisonment in fortress custody (volume 1), the death march and the liberation of the concentration camp complex (volume 2), the discovery of the Landsberg concentration camp with its mainly French prisoners in Penzing (volume 5) and the history of the city Landsberg depicted under National Socialism (issue 3). These booklets sparked a social discussion in Landsberg about how to deal with this part of history. Parts of this discussion can be read in the form of letters to the editor in the booklets. All of this happened at a time before the city of Landsberg commissioned official publications on the subject.

Landsberg concentration camp - discovery of the 12th concentration camp of the Kaufering concentration camp command

In addition to the 11 concentration camps known to date, another concentration camp was discovered in Landsberg, on the Penzing air base. This was not subordinate to the Dachau concentration camp external command. There were mainly French slave laborers there, including Georges Charpak, who later won the Nobel Prize in Physics . On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the Landsberg / Kaufering concentration camps, a German / French memorial plaque was inaugurated on May 1, 1995 by Anton Posset and Marcel Miquet, the vice-president of the organization “Amicale des Anciens de Dachau”.

War criminals cemetery - Spöttinger Friedhof

Through the publication on the war criminals in special issue 1 From Hitler's fortress custody to war criminal prison N ° 1: The Landsberg prison in the mirror of history also moved the cemetery of the prison '(Spöttinger Friedhof), on which u. a. the war criminals hanged in prison were buried. For many years it was used as a pilgrimage site by right-wing extremists . In newspaper articles and letters to the editor, the citizens' association started a discussion about how to deal with this “pilgrimage site”, which could have been dissolved 50 years later. The graves continued to be maintained by the state. The name tags have now been removed from the crosses of the respective war criminals.

Jewish fellow citizens from Landsberg who were expelled from Landsberg by the events around the Reichspogromnacht - erection of "stumbling blocks"

For years, the citizens' association has been calling for so-called stumbling blocks to be embedded in the footpath in front of the former homes of the five Jewish families who were expelled from the city of Landsberg on November 9, 1938 ( Reichspogromnacht ) to commemorate their suffering . Only one of these Jewish fellow citizens - Max Weimann - returned to his native Landsberg after the Holocaust and lived there until his death. The five former "Jewish houses" are the Weimannhaus (Hinteranger), Fischl-Schleßingerhaus (Vorderanger), Willstätterhaus Vordere Mühlgasse, Westheimerhaus (main square) and Kemeterhaus (Bergstrasse).

Handover of the barracks for pregnant women from the former concentration camp command Kaufering I to the Yad Vashem memorial

In 2003, the 1st chairman Anton Posset donated the still original pregnant women barrack from the concentration camp command Kaufering I of the Yad Vashem memorial . After the war, this barrack was sold to a carpentry workshop in Issing and built there in its original state. In 2003, the master carpenter Julius Müller donated the building that was discovered through research. The dismantling and transport to Israel were financed by donations. Today this barrack is part of the exhibition in the Holocaust memorial in Yad Vashem.

Publications

Parts of the research results are published in the “Landsberger Zeitgeschichte”. In addition to passing on knowledge about history to the younger generation, the special issues also had the task of reaching other contemporary witnesses and encouraging them to record their life stories (" oral history ")

Over the years a large number of films, television productions and radio reports have been made in Germany and abroad. Some of these productions also dealt with the work of the citizens' association itself.

Events, exhibitions and commemorations

In addition, the citizens' association has been committed to promoting democratic awareness from the very beginning and opposes totalitarianism, racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism . This happened and is happening above all in a large number of events, exhibitions and commemorations. Every year, commemorations were and will be held on November 9th, the anniversary of the Reichspogromnacht, and on April 27th, the day when the Landsberg / Kaufering concentration camp command was liberated by the French-American army units. In addition, events were held on January 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, on “Week of Fraternity” or “Day of the Open Monument”.

Since 2016, the citizens' association has been organizing the “Culture Against Forgetting” series of events around November 9th. It organizes guided tours to the archaeological remains of the 11 concentration camps in Landsberg / Kaufering .

Further commitment

At the Bavarian Justice, the citizens' association - twelve years after the beatification by Pope John Paul II - pushed through the secular rehabilitation of the Jesuit father Rupert Mayer . The association was and is helping concentration camp survivors as well as their children and grandchildren in the search for missing family members. It also supports national and international youth encounters, gives lectures and organizes guided tours for schoolchildren and students.

Publications

Special issue Landsberg Contemporary History - Citizens' Association Landsberg in the 20th Century:

Booklet 1: From Hitler's imprisonment to war criminals prison No. 1: The Landsberg prison in the mirror of history. 1993, ISBN 3-9803775-0-4 .

Volume 2: Death March and Liberation - Landsberg in April 1945: The end of the Holocaust in Bavaria. 1993, ISBN 3-9803775-1-2 .

Booklet 3: The National Socialist pilgrimage site Landsberg: 1933–1937: “The Hitler city” becomes the “city of youth”. 1993, ISBN 3-9803775-2-0 .

Booklet 4: The Kaufering concentration camp command 1944/45: The extermination of the Jews in the armaments project "Ringeltaube". 1993, ISBN 3-9803775-3-9 .

Issue 5: The Landsberg SS labor camp 1944/45: French resistance fighters in the German concentration camp. 1995, ISBN 3-9803775-4-7 .

Issue 6: Landsberg 1945–1950: The Jewish New Beginning after the Shoah - The future emanated from the Landsberg DP camp. 1996, ISBN 3-9803775-5-5 .