Documentation center prison Ostertorwache

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The logo of the documentation center for the prison Ostertorwache

The Ostertorwache prisoner house documentation center in Bremen is located in the rear part of the former Ostertorwache detention house , the front wing of which is known as the Wilhelm-Wagenfeld-Haus . Located on the eastern section of the street Am Wall in the ramparts - on the eastern edge of the old town district - it is part of the so-called “culture mile” . The history of the house, which served as a prison for 168 years, is preserved and processed in the documentation center. In particular, the use during the time of National Socialism is examined (for the prehistory of the house as a prison see Festival / Marzahn 1994).

Five former cells in the right wing of the house are used as exhibition and presentation rooms , the furnishings of which are faithfully reproduced. The Bremen State Archive is responsible for the memorial site . It organizes tours and events in cooperation with the Ostertorwache e. V. and remembering for the future e. V. coordinated.

history

First efforts to convert the northern gatehouse into a place of remembrance arose in 1984, and since the mid-1980s the Working Group of Formerly Persecuted Social Democrats (AvS) - especially their Bremen memorial commissioner Rainer Habel - set up a central documentation and memorial site for the victims of National Socialism a. On December 16, 1989, Mechthild Müser broadcast her radio production "If you are disgusted, we will not blame you", which reignited the discussion. The AvS then demanded the establishment of a document house with the permanent exhibition "Persecution and Resistance in Bremen 1933–1945" and suggested the former prison as the location. The cultural plan for Bremen 1987–1995, however, provided for the building to be used jointly by the Gerhard-Marcks-Haus opposite and the neighboring art gallery.

The usage concept was briefly debated on March 12, 1991 during a question time in the Bremen citizenship . On this occasion, the then Senator for Education, Science and Art, Henning Scherf , warned that there should not be any need for new subsidies - any users of the house would therefore have to be able to finance it themselves. He also said:

“This old prison, which also has historical significance, is also a monument. You can't tear all the old cells away, they're all protected, Gestapo prisoners used to sit there, including my relatives. "

In 1992, the state executive of the SPD Bremen wrote to the Senator for Culture and the Integration of Foreigners, Helga Trüpel , that efforts should be made to

“That in this house the admonishing memory of those persecuted and victims of the Nazi terror in Bremen is given due space. In the opinion of the SPD state executive, this can be done through a central Ostertor-Wache memorial or through a respectful integration, which documents the bad past of this building, into any other use of the Ostertor-Wache. […] At least such a concern must be met by giving the memorial and memorial character of this house sufficient and respectful space via the path of integration into any future use - even if it is used for other purposes. Bremen needs a central place to educate people about the Holocaust using the example of Bremen a. a. with a permanent exhibition from 1933 to 1945 with specific references to victims and perpetrators as well as the historical context before 1933 and after 1945. 59 years 'after 1933', such remembering, documenting and conveying is more important than ever for all generations in an authentic place - also and especially in the united Germany. "

In 1993 the Senate of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen decided to set up a documentation center on the history of the house in the former detention house and its basement and commissioned the Bremen State Archives to develop a corresponding concept. Between 1994 and 1996, however, it became apparent that the Wilhelm Wagenfeld House planned at the same time in the front wing of the building required more space than expected, which is why it was decided to use only a few cells on the ground floor as a memorial site. A public reading by some actors from Theater Bremen took place there on November 9, 1996 , and a few days later the Ostertorwache memorial was constituted on November 18 in the nearby Villa Ichon . V. In 1997, the State Archives initiated a scientific investigation and presentation of the history of the Ostertorwache, which Dieter Fricke carried out as part of a work contract . In the same year, Robert Bücking, then head of the Central / Eastern Suburbs office , turned to the Senator for Education, Science, Art and Sport Bringfriede Kahrs and asked for the concept to be revised, as he feared that the memorial might compete with Wilhelm-Wagenfeld - The house is in the same building and its meaning is too severely curtailed. He suggested:

“The use of the old entrance on the east side of the house should be reserved for the memorial site. [...] The documentation center will have a modest foyer and an appropriate entrance. [...] We would like to ask you to assign all cells on the eastern corridor to the documentation and memorial site. Removing the large corner cell from the spatial program of the documentation and memorial site means that it is almost impossible to present photos, plaques and documents in an appropriate form. The other cells are known to be so small that hardly more than three people can be in them at the same time. These cells are in themselves a 'complete exhibit' in every respect and can hardly be furnished with 'didactic material'. "

However, his suggestions were not implemented. In January 1998 a working group - consisting of representatives of remembering for the future e. V., the Ostertorwache memorial e. V. as well as the State Archives - in life and subsequently began the renovation of the interior. After a construction period of over a year, the documentation center was handed over to the public on September 28, 1999 and the official opening on October 2.

literature

  • Ulrike Puvogel, Martin Stankowski : Memorials for the Victims of National Socialism. A documentation . Volume I (federal states of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and Schleswig-Holstein). Ed .: Federal Agency for Civic Education . 2nd, revised and expanded edition. Federal Agency for Civic Education, Bonn 1995, ISBN 3-89331-208-0 , Wallanlagen Memorial and Ostertorwache Memorial , p. 206–207 ( digital copy [PDF; 24.2 MB ] reprinted 1996).
  • Johannes Feest / Christian Marzahn: Compulsion and beautiful appearance. The detention house at the Ostertor. Wittheit zu Bremen (ed.): Classicism in Bremen. Forms of bourgeois culture. Bremen 1994 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Representation of the history of the documentation center on Rememberfuerdiezukunft.de/doku/geschi (remembering for the future e.V.), found on August 25, 2011

Coordinates: 53 ° 4 ′ 23.7 "  N , 8 ° 48 ′ 54.2"  E