Bautzen memorial
The Bautzen Memorial , Wopomnišćo Budyšin in Upper Sorbian , is a place of remembrance of the victims of the two prisons Bautzen I and Bautzen II . It has been located in the building of the former special prison Bautzen II ("Stasi-Knast") in the Bautzen district of Nordostring since 1993 . The memorial is the workplace of the Saxon Memorials Foundation to commemorate the victims of political tyranny .
history
In 1992 the Bautzen II prison was closed due to its special importance as a place of political imprisonment. The establishment of the memorial is mainly due to the initiative and persistence of former Bautzen I and II prisoners, who founded the “Bautzen Committee” in 1990.
On July 12, 1991, the CDU parliamentary group in the Saxon state parliament applied for “a memorial to the victims of communism and socialism in the Bautzen prison” after a visit to the state parliament . The memorial to be set up in the former MfS special detention center Bautzen II was to “serve both as a place of remembrance and as a museum and meeting place”. On July 16, 1993, at the request of the Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen parliamentary group, the Saxon state parliament asked the state government to continue to support the establishment of the “Memorial for the Victims of the Communist and Socialist Dictatorship and Political Justice in the former special prison of the MfS 'Bautzen II' "To use. Your character and condition should be preserved as much as possible.
After its establishment in February 1994, the Saxon Memorials Foundation took over the further development and expansion of the memorial. The concept developed on their behalf , which now expressly formulated the remembrance of the injustice of the Nazi dictatorship and its victims as well as the documentation of the history of the Bautzen I prison , was recommended for implementation by the foundation committees in April 1997. The Bautzen Memorial has the extensive and difficult task of processing and documenting the history of two very different prisons in three periods of persecution - the National Socialist dictatorship, the time of the Soviet occupying power and the SED dictatorship - in a historical location.
Silke Klewin has been the director of the memorial since 1999 .
Permanent exhibition
In the Bautzen Memorial there are three exhibition rooms in which the individual periods of persecution in Bautzen prisons and a chronicle of the prisons are presented.
Chronicle of the Bautzen prisons. 1904-2000
The history of Bautzen I (1904 to 1990) and Bautzen II (1906 to 1992) as well as the memorial in Bautzen (1990 to 2000) is documented like a chronicle . The focus is on a chronological classification of the main development stages of both prisons, which are illustrated with numerous photos.
History of the special camp in Bautzen. 1945-1956
The story of the Soviet special camp in Bautzen I is told on the basis of 42 selected prisoner biographies . Numerous original objects from the imprisonment are assigned to the résumés. A model of the camp illustrates the spatial conditions at that time. In addition, the few surviving contemporary photos and a short film sequence are shown. In addition to the exhibition room, the visitor is shown a cell reconstruction based on the descriptions of former prisoners , which can also be entered.
Stasi prison Bautzen II. 1956–1989
The exhibition is divided into eight thematic sections. They document the entire history of Bautzen II as a special prison of the State Security: from the arrest and briefing, the everyday life of the prisoners, the staff, the shielding of the prison from the public to the release of the political prisoners in 1989/90. In addition to numerous exhibits, there are audio and film documents of show trials as well as eyewitness accounts about the detention. "The aim of the exhibition is to reveal the fateful structures of repression that characterize the system of persecution and marginalization in the GDR ." The exhibition is supplemented by forty glass steles distributed around the house: 20 mark and explain various historical locations, and 20 more present prisoner biographies.
National Socialist prison system in Bautzen. 1933-1945
Based on the description of the penal system in the United Penitentiaries, ie Bautzen I and Bautzen II, the essential characteristics of the National Socialist penal system are to be presented. Bautzen was one of the five largest prisons in the whole of the Reich and until 1939 had an independent department for the juvenile prison system , which changed fundamentally under the national socialists' national and racial ideas. Towards the end of the war there were several external labor camps at the detention center.
Temporary exhibitions
In addition to the permanent collections, the memorial alternates between exhibitions on historical topics related to the Bautzen prisons.
A selection of past temporary exhibitions follows:
| Period | title | content |
|---|---|---|
| October 7, 1999 to December 17, 1999 |
NO POWER | The October '89 events in Dresden and the Bautzen feeder point. A chronicle from October 3 to October 10, 1989. |
| May 18, 2000 to September 10, 2000 |
The Gross case. An attempt to escape in the trunk from east to west | Christa Feurich and Peter Gross , prisoners in Bautzen II from 1975 to 1978. |
| November 9, 2004 to January 30, 2005 |
history codes. It's time | Posters on the subject of "15 Years of the Fall of the Wall " designed by young artists and graphic designers . |
| October 12, 2005 to December 18, 2005 |
Michael Gartenschläger - Life and Death between Germany and Germany | Biography of the political prisoner and escape helper Michael Gartenschläger . |
| May 4, 2006 to June 18, 2006 |
"Shot in Moscow ..." The German victims of Stalinism in the Moscow Donskoye cemetery 1950 - 1953 | The shooting of almost 1,000 Germans, including Bautzen special camp prisoners , in Moscow after 1945. |
| May 15, 2008 to August 31, 2008 |
Captive falcons - The persecution of the SPD youth 1945 to 1961 | The history of the socialist youth of Germany - the falcons from the re-establishment to the ban in the GDR . |
| November 12, 2008 to February 1, 2009 |
Nazi "euthanasia" in court. The trial before the Dresden Regional Court in 1947 | The Dresden " euthanasia " trial from June 16 to July 7, 1947. |
| October 7, 2009 to January 31, 2010 |
Got up! Bautzen in autumn '89 | Photos of the Bautzen Monday demonstrations in 1989 by Jürgen Matschie. |
| May 6, 2010 to August 29, 2010 |
Riot behind bars. The prisoner uprising in the Brandenburg penal institution in 1989/90 | The prisoner uprising in the Brandenburg-Görden prison . |
| September 11, 2010 to January 1, 2011 |
Violence behind bars. Abuse of prisoners in the GDR | Violence and mistreatment against prisoners in GDR prisons. |
| January 27, 2011 to March 31, 2011 |
"What started then was monstrous ..." Early concentration camps in 1933-1937 | The history of the first concentration camp in Saxony with biographies of inmates and perpetrators. |
| May 20, 2011 to July 31, 2011 |
Put a face to the persecution. Opposition and persecution of social democrats in the Soviet occupation zone and GDR 1945 - 1961 | The history of the opposition and persecution of social democrats in the Soviet occupation zone and the GDR between 1945 and 1961. |
| May 20, 2011 to March 25, 2012 |
The wall. A border through Germany | The history of the Berlin Wall with photographs from the archives of Bild and Der Welt . |
| June 17, 2011 to January 29, 2012 |
Look up. Soviet detention centers in Germany 1945 - 1955 as reflected in artistic and literary evidence | Artistic and literary works produced by special camp inmates during or after their imprisonment. |
| August 10, 2011 to October 31, 2011 |
The white line. Prehistory and consequences of an art action on the Berlin Wall | The art campaign The White Line of five Weimar citizens on the Berlin Wall in November 1986. |
| October 25, 2011 to November 4, 2011 |
Human rights and civil society in Belarus | The activities of Belarusian civil society and the democratic opposition in Belarus , as well as the repression they are exposed to. |
| May 10, 2012 to March 31, 2013 |
The perfect world of dictatorship? Rule and everyday life in the GDR | Everyday life in the GDR. |
| April 24, 2013 to October 27, 2013 |
Youth opposition in the GDR | The biographies of eighteen young oppositionists from the GDR . |
| October 30, 2013 to January 5, 2014 |
Innocent places. And memories | Photo project by photographer Sebastian H. Schroeder. Portraits of former political prisoners of the GDR and photos of places of injustice in the GDR. |
| April 2, 2014 to September 14, 2014 |
"There were no vessels for the food." Ceramic finds on the history of the Soviet special camps in Mühlberg and Buchenwald | Found ceramic vessels from the special camps in Mühlberg and Buchenwald . |
| April 31, 2015 to November 15, 2015 |
The forgotten prisoner revolt. The Bautzen "Yellow Misery" in March 1950 | The prisoner uprising in Bautzen I on March 31, 1950. |
| April 13, 2017 to January 1, 2018 |
Communism in its age | The rise and fall of communism , exhibition by Gerd Koenen |
| May 13, 2018 to January 31, 2019 |
Full of the east. Life in the GDR | Photographs of everyday life in East Berlin in the 1980s, exhibition by Harald Hauswald |
Educational offers
The Bautzen Memorial offers an overview tour as well as guided tours on the subjects of "Special Camp Bautzen. 1945–1956", "Stasi Prison Bautzen II . 1956–1989", " Walter Kempowski in the Special Camp " and "Search for traces" (a combination of Project work and guided tour).
School classes also have the opportunity to take part in student projects in which they independently acquire knowledge on topics such as political justice under National Socialism , the history of the Soviet special camp in Bautzen or the peaceful revolution in Bautzen.
In addition, various types of events take place at the memorial, including theater and film performances, concerts, panel discussions and book presentations. The memorial also conducts advanced training courses and provides contemporary witnesses on request .
The Bautzen Memorial has a reference library and a document and photo archive, which can be used for research on request.
literature
- Susanne Hattig, Silke Klewin, Cornelia Liebold, Jörg Morré: Stasi prison Bautzen II 1956–1989. Catalog for the exhibition at the Bautzen Memorial . In: Stiftung Sächsische Gedenkstätten (Hrsg.): Series of publications by the Stiftung Sächsische Gedenkstätten in memory of the victims of political tyranny . tape 13 . Sandstein Verlag, Dresden 2008, ISBN 978-3-937602-98-1 .
- Susanne Hattig, Silke Klewin , Cornelia Liebold, Jörg Morré: History of the Bautzen Special Camp. 1945-1956. Catalog for the exhibition at the Bautzen Memorial . In: Stiftung Sächsische Gedenkstätten (Hrsg.): Series of publications by the Stiftung Sächsische Gedenkstätten in memory of the victims of political tyranny . tape 11 . Sandstein Verlag, Dresden 2004, ISBN 3-937602-29-1 .
Web links
- Website of the Bautzen Memorial
- Website of the Bautzen Committee
- Website of the Friends of the Bautzen Memorial
Individual evidence
- ^ History of the Bautzen Memorial . Website of the Bautzen Memorial. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
- ^ Exhibition Chronicle of Bautzen Prisons. 1904-2000 . Website of the Bautzen Memorial. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
- ^ Exhibition History of the Bautzen Special Camp. 1945-1956 . Website of the Bautzen Memorial. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
- ↑ Quoted from Susanne Hattig, Silke Klewin, Cornelia Liebold, Jörg Morré: Stasi prison Bautzen II 1956-1989. Catalog for the exhibition at the Bautzen Memorial. 2008, p. 10.
- ↑ Detention under the swastika Bautzen I and Bautzen II 1933–1945 Website of the Bautzen memorial accessed on November 25, 2018
Coordinates: 51 ° 10 ′ 40.8 " N , 14 ° 26 ′ 11.2" E