Sachsenburg Memorial

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The memorial erected in 1968, designed by Hanns Diettrich (2016)

The Sachsenburg Memorial commemorates the early Sachsenburg concentration camp (1933 to 1937). After the end of the GDR , an exhibition opened in 1974 in the former factory building in Sachsenburg was closed, the memorials on the site were preserved. Various initiatives have been campaigning for a new concentration camp memorial since the 1990s. In June 2018, the Frankenberg City Council decided to build a new memorial . This is to be funded by the Saxon Memorials Foundation. An outdoor exhibition has been providing information on aspects of the history of the concentration camp since 2019.

Monuments and outdoor exhibition

Memorial stone in memory of the Sachsenburg concentration camp (2016)

Memorials on the former concentration camp site

A memorial designed by the sculptor Hanns Diettrich has been a reminder of the concentration camp since 1968 . The work depicts four exhausted prisoners and is inscribed with an inscription that goes back to Friedrich Schiller's “Wallenstein” : “And if you don't commit your life, your life will never be won.” Another memorial stone names the number from 2000 in Sachsenburg imprisoned "anti-fascists". In fact, the number of inmates in Sachsenburg was much higher; research has so far been able to determine the names of over 7,000 inmates.

Outdoor exhibition "Path of Memory"

Since the summer of 2019, an outdoor exhibition commissioned by the City of Frankenberg has been dealing with selected aspects of the history of the Sachsenburg concentration camp on the site of the former concentration camp. Historical photographs give an impression of the building's earlier use, while quotes from concentration camp survivors give an idea of ​​everyday life in the camp. Initially, ten steles were set up in historical locations, with another ten to follow in 2020. Previously, only a small window exhibition at the entrance to the site had reminded of the former Sachsenburg concentration camp; it had been developed by the “Klick” initiative.

Sachsenburg Memorial in the GDR

The provisional memorial room in front of the four retained cells (2015)

Memorials after the Second World War

After the end of the Nazi regime , a memorial plaque was placed on the site of the former Sachsenburg concentration camp in 1945. In 1957 the SED had a first "Memorial for the Victims of Fascism " built. The memorial designed by Paul Friede showed a man throwing off his chains. Both commemorative symbols are no longer preserved today.

Memorial in the factory building

In 1974 a memorial room was set up in the factory building, initiated by the SED and supported by the Ministry of Popular Education . The memorial was only accessible to visitors after registering with the SED district leadership in Hainichen . Until 1989 the teacher Gottfried Weber was the director and main initiator of the memorial. In 1983, on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Sachsenburg concentration camp, the memorial room was redesigned.

A permanent exhibition showed signs and objects to be seen, including a replica of the whipping rack . The highlight of a visit to the memorial was the presentation of a slide-tone lecture on the history of the Sachsenburg concentration camp in several languages, which had been prepared by the SED district history commission. The lecture was structured by the verses of the “Sachsenburg song” that the prisoners had sung in the camp.

In keeping with the SED's view of history, the exhibition focused on the "resistance struggle" of the anti-fascist prisoners. The GDR should appear as a legacy of the communist resistance under National Socialism. By 1989 about 135,000 people had visited the memorial. For young people, the visit was often part of the preparations for the youth consecration . In front of the memorial there were ceremonies for acceptance into the Free German Youth .

Liquidation of the memorial after 1990

The end of the GDR brought about the closure of the memorial, and the state- owned Sachsenburg twisting mill stopped production in the factory building. After the Treuhandanstalt took over the facility, notice boards and memorial boards disappeared and the buildings fell into disrepair. Most of the exhibition elements in the memorial room were disposed of. In 1992 strangers smeared the memorial with right-wing slogans that were not removed for months. The former memorial was accused of having conveyed a one-sided SED view of history; in the public debate the existence of a concentration camp in Sachsenburg was fundamentally questioned.

Future Sachsenburg Memorial

The outdoor exhibition of the "Klick" initiative (2017)
An exhibition is to be shown in the former concentration camp headquarters in the future (2015)

Fight for a new memorial

As early as the 1990s, former victims of Nazi persecution campaigned for a new memorial to be built. In 1999, members of the VVN-BdA organized an exhibition on the history of the concentration camp in Sachsenburg Castle in collaboration with other volunteers . The exhibition has been shown in the garage on the former concentration camp site since 2010, but it is only accessible on special occasions.

In 2009, former prisoners, relatives of prisoners and like-minded people founded the "Sachsenburg camp working group" with the declared aim of creating a place of remembrance again. In addition, the initiative “Klick”, founded by young people in 2010, campaigned for a memorial, from which in 2018 the “Geschichtswerkstatt Sachsenburg” emerged. This operates the website of the Sachsenburg Memorial.

Most recently, the demolition of the former commandant's villa decided by the city of Frankenberg caused protests. In addition to internationally known historians, family members of Nazi resistance fighters and celebrities such as the painter Gerhard Richter called for the building to be retained in a public appeal. Instead of removing historical evidence, those responsible should set up a place of learning for democracy on the entire area of ​​the former concentration camp.

Plans for the future memorial

The amendment to the Saxon Memorial Laws, which took place at the end of 2012, promised institutional support for a future Sachsenburg concentration camp memorial. Nevertheless, the planning did not advance for years. In June 2018, the Frankenberg city council finally decided to set up a memorial. However, a corresponding project funding application within the framework of the memorial site funding was rejected by the federal government.

Since then, the city of Frankenberg has been pursuing two projects: In 2020, a temporary “communication and documentation center” is to be set up in the “Fischerschänke” restaurant on the edge of the former concentration camp grounds. In addition, a historian commissioned by the city is working on a new application for federal funding. Among other things, a new concept for dealing with the commandant's villa is to be developed for this purpose. According to the current status, the former commandant's villa, which became the property of the city in 2014, is to be demolished down to the foundations . An inclusion of the factory building in which concentration camp prisoners and guards were housed in the memorial concept is not yet planned.

literature

  • Erich Knorr: Sachsenburg. Documents and memories. Ed. IVVdN eV (Interest group for those persecuted by the Nazi regime and their survivors) 1994.
  • Thiemo Kirmse, Enrico Hilbert (Hrsg.): Sachsenburg documents and memories. VVN / BdA-Chemnitz 2009.
  • A thousand comrades man to man. Edited by the SED district leadership in Hainichen (memories of former prisoners).
  • Bert Pampel, Mike Schmeitzner (eds.): Sachsenburg Concentration Camp (1933–1937) , Sandstein, Dresden 2018, ISBN 978-3-95498-382-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Werner, Origin and Function , p. 436.
  2. ^ Wallenstein's camp, 11 / choir . In: Friedrich von Schiller: Wallenstein's camp , Philipp Reclam jun. Leipzig, 1965
  3. ↑ Hans Brenner et al. (Ed.): Nazi terror and persecution in Saxony. From the early concentration camps to the death marches , series of publications by the Saxon State Center for Political Education, Dresden 2018, p. 252.
  4. ↑ Path of Remembrance opened in the former Sachsenburg concentration camp , Free Press, June 2, 2019 Accessed June 30, 2020
  5. ^ Eva Werner: Origin and function of the Sachsenburg concentration camp memorial in the GDR. In: Bert Pampel; Mike Schmeitzner (Ed.): Sachsenburg Concentration Camp (1933-1937) , Series of publications by the Sächsische Gedenkstätten Foundation, Volume 16, Sandstein, Dresden 2018, ISBN 978-3-95498-382-7 , pp. 431–444, here p. 433 .
  6. ↑ Werner, Origin and Function , p. 438.
  7. ↑ Werner, Origin and Function , p. 439.
  8. ↑ Werner, Origin and Function , p. 442.
  9. ↑ Pampel, Vom “vergenen KZ” , p. 445.
  10. Jump up ↑ Pampel, Vom “forgotten KZ” , p. 447.
  11. ↑ Pampel, Vom “vergenen KZ” , p. 445.
  12. Jump up ↑ Pampel, Vom “forgotten KZ” , p. 448.
  13. ↑ VVN-BdA Chemnitz: Mahnruf 2010 , p. 5 Accessed on 23 August 2018
  14. ↑ https://gedenkstaette-sachsenburg.de/impressum/
  15. ↑ Carolina Neubert: Celebrities demand receipt of the Nazi villa in Frankenberg , Day 24, October 22, 2019 Retrieved June 30, 2020
  16. ^ Stiftung Sächsische Gedenkstätten: Changed Saxon Memorial Foundation Act entered into force , December 19, 2012 Retrieved on August 23, 2018
  17. ↑ Jan Leißner: City council clears the way for Sachsenburg concentration camp memorial , Free Press, June 22, 2018 Retrieved on August 23, 2018
  18. ↑ Start of construction in the Fischerschänke , Free Press, June 20, 2020 Accessed June 30, 2020
  19. ↑ Ibid.

Coordinates: 50 ° 55 ′ 56.5 "  N , 13 ° 1 ′ 36.8"  E