Thinking cells Old Town Hall
The thinking cells of the old town hall are a reminder, memorial and documentation center on the local history of National Socialism in Lüdenscheid . You are in the basement of the old town hall Lüdenscheid . An important aspect for the initiators was and is the documentation at the authentic location.
History of the detention cells
In 1907 Lüdenscheid became an independent city, and since then the police have been directly subordinate to the Lord Mayor. In the cellar of the town hall on Wilhelmstrasse there were five cells and the apartment of the officer who was responsible for the prisoners. In the summer of 1933, the mayor set up the SA local guard in the police office in the town hall (room 2).
Since the police's detention cells were no longer sufficient, in April 1942, on the instructions of the Hamm Higher Regional Court, the district court also made its detention cells available for the deportation of the Jewish population from the Lüdenscheid area.
In 1931 31 police officers were on duty in Lüdenscheid . From 1933 onwards, many auxiliary police officers were added. In 1945 81 police officers were employed here, 56 of whom were in captivity by the victorious powers (see above p. 51). International research assumes that half of the 6 million Jewish victims in extermination camps were murdered by the SS, a quarter by "normal" police officers who were formed into police battalions for this purpose (including the 56 Lüdenscheid police officers), and a quarter of other German and foreign uniforms.
The example of the police makes it clear how difficult it is to draw the line between victims and perpetrators, because many died during the operations or took their own lives out of desperation - also in the local police cells (e.g. Karl G.).
The police records from the Nazi era can no longer be found. However, the city's administrative reports contain the following information:
| year | 1932 | 1933 | 1934 | 1935 | 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | 1939 | 1940 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Imprisonments | 108 | 299 | 146 | 272 | 285 | 348 | 430 | 251 | 216 |
| Transports prisoners | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | 345 | 195 | 97 | 74 |
During the Nazi era , numerous communists , social democrats and trade unionists were initially imprisoned here in addition to the criminals . More than 50 of them were taken prisoner by the SA, the auxiliary policemen and the policemen, who mostly worked together since 1933. As early as April 24, 1933, the SA determined the event: “Dr. Schulte zur Oven was picked up from his apartment by members of the SA and the party, led through the city and finally delivered to the police administration. "(StA Lüd B-00-1)
The administrative report 1941–1948 states that 356 Lüdenscheiders are “recognized as politically, racially or religiously persecuted”. Many of them were detained in the police cells several times. Communists, the deceased, foreign workers and other victims who did not or could not submit applications are absent. The anonymous figures show that - if you subtract the number of an average of 100 criminals per year in Lüdenscheid - 50 to 300 per year were imprisoned as politically, racially and religiously persecuted in the cells or in substitute cells (district court, etc.). For 1933–1945, this results in more than 1,000 people persecuted in Lüdenscheid. About 50 ( Jews , Communists, etc.) were sent to their deaths from here. The later mayor and honorary citizen Erwin Welke is one of those detained in the police cells .
Since the introduction of “ protective custody ”, the critical citizen and the marginalized had become arbitrary victims of the state. How badly some prisoners were treated in Lüdenscheid, reported on January 27, 2007 in the restaurant and meeting place “The Little Prince” Richard Oettinghaus: “I lived in Luisenstrasse at the time. We children liked to play around the town hall. Once a truck pulled up and stood in front of the town hall. One prisoner was brought out, grabbed by the arms and legs by four uniformed men and thrown onto the truck like a sack. "
In the city, the police handled the Jewish Lüdenscheiders decently, but looked to the side when the Gestapo, in cooperation with the SA, made life difficult for Jews. Jewish contemporary witnesses report that after the night of the pogrom, the Jewish men were sent to the police cells and then taken to Dortmund by truck. From there they came to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp . One of the former forced laborers from Taganrog who visited Lüdenscheid in 1993 said that she was locked in a police cell.
The uniformed forces, especially the police, were used and abused by the National Socialists to enforce the inhuman dictatorship. The former police cells in the basement of today's Old Town Hall are the central and authentic location of the National Socialist terror in Lüdenscheid.
Emergence
The first impetus for a memorial and memorial was given by the Lüdenscheid Peace Group, which, in addition to its commitment to peace politics, is also trying to come to terms with local history under National Socialism. For the first time, a leaflet on the occasion of the anniversary of the Reichspogromnacht 2005 publicly demanded the establishment of a memorial and memorial in the detention cells of the Old Town Hall.
On January 27, 2007, the idea of a support association for the realization of the thinking cells was presented to the public for the first time. The proposal was controversial. After about three years of research and persuasion, 20 supporters of the initiative founded the “Ge-Denk-Cells Old Town Hall Lüdenscheid e. V. “The following two years continued to be characterized by controversial arguments and discussions. On May 23, 2011, the establishment of the thinking cells found a majority in the city council of Lüdenscheid. Now the association began to recruit donors and implement the content of the exhibition.
On November 23, 2012, the thinking cells of the old town hall were opened as part of a ceremony in the Lüdenscheid cultural center .
Reminder and memorial
Today the memorial and memorial occupies the anteroom and two of the detention cells with an exhibition. In the first cell, the Jewish victims of National Socialism are discussed. In the second cell, the victims of various groups who resisted the regime find their appreciation: Social Democrats, Communists, Bible Students , but also simply citizens who did not want to look the other way. In the anteroom, the main focus is on the structures on which the “success” of the regime was based. In addition, the facility is equipped with several multimedia portals and sound stations.
The sponsor is the “Verein Ge-Denk-Cell Altes Rathaus Lüdenscheid e. V. “which (as of March 2016) has 61 members. In the meantime, the association has been promised the use of a third cell. The thematic design is currently still being discussed. Implementation is planned for spring 2017. The possibility of group tours in particular has been used by various schools in Lüdenscheid but also by foreign visitors from the partner cities. In particular, the cooperation with schools is promoted from the start and is constantly being further developed.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. Behrendt, Gobas.
- ↑ (p. 58)
- ↑ Thinking makes strong for democracy and human rights. Leaflet of the peace group Lüdenscheid dated November 9, 2005.
- ↑ Press review on founding the association. Website of the association Ge-Denk-cells Altes Rathaus Lüdenscheid eV
- ↑ Public / non-public meeting of the City Council of Lüdenscheid on May 23, 2011. Website of the City of Lüdenscheid. Accessed March 25, 2016.
- ↑ Big crowd for the opening of the memorial cells. Website of the Märkischer Zeitungsverlag ( Lüdenscheider Nachrichten ). Accessed March 25, 2016.
- ↑ Press review for the opening of the Ge-Denk-Cell Altes Rathaus website of the association. Accessed March 25, 2016.
- ↑ Speech at the opening of the thinking cells of the old town hall . Ulrike Schrader, Head of the Working Group of Nazi Memorials and Places of Remembrance in NRW e. V. and head of the Old Synagogue Wuppertal meeting place . Website of the association. Accessed March 25, 2016.