Münchner Platz memorial in Dresden

Royal District Court of Dresden, view from the north of the prison (around 1908)

The jury court room in 1947 during the Dresden medical trial for the crimes in the Pirna-Sonnenstein killing center

Figure group by Arnd Wittig in the inner courtyard

View into the former court of justice of the regional court (1990)

The Münchner Platz Dresden Memorial in Dresden's Südvorstadt is a place of remembrance for the victims of political criminal justice .

history

The building, erected between 1902 and 1907 and opened as the royal Saxon regional court , served as a court, prison and central place of execution until 1956 during the Nazi era , during the Soviet occupation and the GDR dictatorship .

In the courtyard of the building complex there was a falling sword machine that was used to carry out death sentences. A total of more than 1,300 people were killed here. About two thirds of the victims came from the Reich Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia , as the executions of the special courts in Prague and Brno were carried out here.

On February 15, 1945 parts of the building were damaged or destroyed by bombs during the attack on Dresden .

In 1957 the TH Dresden took over the building of the regional court on Münchner Platz . Werner Scheffel was commissioned to develop the overall artistic concept for the square. The former execution court with the death row became in 1959 an "anti-fascist memorial". The bronze group sculpture by Arnd Wittig was installed in 1962. Since 1999 the memorial has been part of the Saxon Memorials Foundation to commemorate the victims of political tyranny , which co-finances another memorial on Bautzner Strasse in the city .

The following people, among others, were executed at Münchner Platz:

• under National Socialism:
  • Czesław Jóźwiak , Edward Kaźmierski , Edward Klinik , Franciszek Kęsy and Jarogniew Wojciechowski on August 24, 1942 (preparation for high treason )
  • Brother Grzegorz Frackowiak SVD on May 5, 1943 (assumption of debt)
  • Horst Walter Dautert on May 30, 1943 ( Ordinance against public pests )
  • Kurt Schlosser on August 16, 1944, treason and favoring the enemy
  • Arthur Weineck on August 16, 1944 treason and enemy favor
  • Herbert Blochwitz on August 16, 1944 high treason and enemy favor
  • Otto Galle on August 16, 1944 treason and favoring the enemy
  • Georg Schumann on January 11, 1945 ( resistance against National Socialism )
  • Otto Engert on January 11, 1945 (resistance against National Socialism)
  • Kurt Kresse on January 11, 1945 (resistance against National Socialism)
  • Alfred Frank on January 12, 1945 (resistance against National Socialism)
  • Wolfgang Heinze on January 12, 1945 (resistance against National Socialism)
  • William Zipperer on January 12, 1945 (resistance against National Socialism)
  • Margarete Blank on February 8, 1945 ( "heavily corrosive statements" )
• In the Soviet zone of occupation:
  • Paul Nitsche on March 25, 1948 ( crimes against humanity , action T4 )
• In the DDR
  • Hans Meinshausen and Bruno Malitz on October 19, 1948 ( show trial , crimes against humanity)
  • Johann Burianek on August 2, 1952 (show trial, member of the KgU , "boycott agitation" )
  • Wolfgang Kaiser on September 6, 1952 (show trial, member of the KgU, "boycott agitation")
  • Erna Dorn on October 1, 1953 (alleged ringleadership in Halle / Saale during the popular uprising on June 17, 1953 )
  • Ernst Jennrich on March 20, 1954 (alleged murder in Magdeburg during the popular uprising on June 17, 1953)
  • Gerhard Benkowitz and Hans-Dietrich Kogel on June 29, 1955 (show trial, member of the KgU, "boycott campaign")
  • Joachim Wiebach on September 14, 1955 ( RIAS trial , show trial, "boycott agitation")
  • Elli Barczatis on November 23, 1955 (espionage, "boycotts")
  • Karl Laurenz on November 23, 1955 (espionage, "boycotts")

Further topics

• Central execution sites

See also

• District Court Dresden - for an overview of the various locations of the District Court
• District Court at Münchner Platz (Dresden) - to the description of the building
• District court at Sachsenplatz (Dresden) - to the description of the building

literature

• Horst Schneider : death sentences on Münchner Platz. Facts, consequences and questions about the Dresden district court . Verlag am Park, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-932180-35-6 .

Web links

Commons : Münchner Platz Memorial  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Homepage of the memorial

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Erika Neumann , Ulrich Kurt : Art and Architecture. Building-related art in the GDR . VEB EA Seemann Verlag, Leipzig 1974
2. ↑ beatified on June 13, 1999 as the "five martyrs from Münchener Platz"; see. St. Paulus Dresden-Plauen: "The Five" ( Memento of the original from May 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ beatified on June 13, 1999; see. St. Paulus Dresden-Plauen: Br. Grzegorz Boleslaw Frackowiak SVD ( Memento of the original from September 23, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 

Coordinates: 51 ° 1 ′ 45 ″  N , 13 ° 43 ′ 21 ″  E