Bittermark Memorial

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The Bittermark Memorial, September 2006

The Bittermark Memorial is a memorial in the Dortmund district of Hombruch . It was created in 1960 by the Hagen artist Karel Niestrath and the Dortmund architect Will Schwarz on behalf of the city of Dortmund. The crypt was designed by the French artist Léon Zack .

overview

Side view of the memorial

Located in the Bittermark city forest , the memorial commemorates the Gestapo murders in Rombergpark and in Bittermark . In the Easter days of 1945 from March 7th to April 12th, around 300 people were murdered in a clearing in the Bittermark, in Rombergpark and on the railway site between Hörde and Berghofen. On April 13, 1945, Dortmund was occupied by American troops. On April 19, 1945, the exhumation of the bodies in the Bittermark began. Those killed were forced laborers from France , Belgium , the Netherlands , Yugoslavia , Poland and the Soviet Union and German resistance fighters who were abducted from the Hörder Gestapokeller and the Steinwache to Rombergpark and Bittermark and murdered there.

post war period

Commemoration at the memorial, Good Friday 2007
The cemetery laid out in a semicircle behind the memorial
Commemoration at the memorial, Good Friday 2014

The burial of 89 of the murdered took place on April 22nd in a communal grave on a meadow in the Bittermark. Other victims were buried in the Protestant and Catholic cemeteries in Hörde. On August 26, 1945, a mourning rally was held on Hansaplatz in Dortmund to “commemorate those who were murdered by fascism”. The murdered person was also commemorated in the following years. On Good Friday 1947 a memorial was inaugurated in the Catholic cemetery, and shortly afterwards another in the Protestant cemetery. At the same time, a sandstone figure was erected in the Bittermark to commemorate the dead. Later this was transferred to the Catholic cemetery in Hörde. In 1953, the Association of People Persecuted by the Nazi Regime (VVN), the Working Group of Persecuted Social Democrats (AVS) and the SPD parliamentary group submitted proposals to the council to erect a memorial and a common grave. For this purpose, the main and finance committee of the city of Dortmund approved a total of 150,000 DM on November 30, 1953. In March 1954, all dead, including those from the Hörder cemeteries, were solemnly buried in the Bittermark after being re-registered. On Good Friday 1954, the city of Dortmund's first official ceremony took place there, which has been held regularly since then in memory of the victims.

Planning and construction of the memorial

Gisa Marschefski, honorary chairwoman of the Romberg Park Committee , at a rally at the memorial

A working group for the construction of the memorial was founded in November 1954. The first contact with the architect Will Schwarz and the sculptor Karel Niestrath was made by the mayor Ewald Görshop in November 1954. Schwarz and Niestrath submitted their first drafts for the memorial and a cost calculation to the culture committee in March 1955. After several meetings, the council decided on April 25, 1955 to erect the memorial and approved the issue of 290,000 DM. After a few changes, the overall planning of Schwarz and Niestrath was approved by the culture committee and the building committee on July 28, 1955.

On October 16, 1955, the concrete work for the memorial could begin. The external design of the memorial was created by Schwarz and Niestrath, but the interior had not yet been designed up to this point. Information about the erection of the memorial also reached the search center for French war victims in Bad Neuenahr . In September 1956 they organized a visit by a French delegation to the Bittermark. After visiting the grave sites and the execution sites in Rombergpark and the Bittermark, the French promised to raise funds for the memorial in their homeland.

This trip meant that the memorial in the Bittermark became the central memorial for the French forced and labor deportees who died . It was also decided that the design of the crypt should be done by a French artist and that an unknown victim should be buried in a zinc coffin in the crypt. The cost of designing the crypt was borne entirely by the National Association of Labor Deportees (FNDP) and the French Ministry of War Victims and Survivors. The ceremonial inauguration of the crypt took place on Good Friday 1958. At this point in time the memorial and the crypt were not yet completed; this only took place in 1960. In 1959, the French artist Léon Zack began with the first designs for the mosaic of the crypt. This was mainly made in his studio and only built into the memorial in the spring of 1960. The crypt is only opened once a year, on Good Friday.

inauguration

The official inauguration of the memorial took place on Good Friday, April 15, 1960. The French Minister for War Victims and Participants in the War, Raymond Triboulet , the French Ambassador in Bonn, Francois Seydoux, Paul Garban from the search center for French war victims and delegations from many European countries were present. The main speakers at the commemoration were the Federal Minister for All-German Issues, Ernst Lemmer , Minister Triboulet, the Lord Mayor of Dortmund, Dietrich Keuning, and Jean-Louis Forest, President of the French National Association of Deportees.

The reliefs

Front of the memorial

Will Schwarz writes about the reliefs:

“The space-filling monolith symbolizing a dungeon alone cannot make it clear enough which place you are entering if you are looking for the way to the grave field surrounding it. The unheard of happening calls for an interpretation of what is here to be reminded of. It must always be able to fill new and future generations with shudder and emotion.

In addition to the main figure, which can be seen from afar - depicting a tortured person - there are two reliefs built into the side walls, in which the brutality is described to which the politically persecuted were exposed.

While the memorial itself is cast from concrete, the material for the main sculpture and reliefs comes from weatherproof Kirchheim shell limestone from the stone bridge near Würzburg.

Avoiding any heroic pose, the incidents of the inhuman events are portrayed with harsh realism, both urgently and at the same time as a warning. "

- I want black

In front of the head of the memorial is a large single figure, suffering, with hands tied behind his back, looking to the side, towards the east.

Do-Bittermark 2776.JPG

The figures of the reliefs on the eastern side of the memorial show the sufferings of the people. Families are separated. A group of three braced themselves against the coming, next to them the cremation ovens in the concentration and labor camps , into which a group of people was driven by faceless, machine-like soldiers with rifles. They also trample over people who are already on the ground. There is also a group of people who have already been hanged. This group is followed by a group of three men who have stretched out their arms wide as if to protect them and keep others away. The figure on the left looks in the direction of the hanged man, the figure on the right stretches his arm to the right and holds a hammer in his hand. The middle figure behind them looks at the viewer, it seems as if she is asking the question: What did you do to help? The subsequent final scene on this side of the memorial shows a crucified, a woman and a child. The woman touches the crucified Christ's leg.

  • Detail of the relief

  • Detail of the relief: Stylized ovens with the names of the concentration camps

  • Relief east side 4.JPG
  • Relief east side 5.JPG
  • Memorial-bittermark-relief 5.jpg

  • detail

Do-Bittermark 2737.JPG

The reliefs on the western side start next to the large front figure with a large group of people crammed together behind barbed wire; Men, women and children, emaciated, partly bound and battered. The last three figures in this group are similar to the group of three on the east side, who have resolutely opposed what was to come. But now they are beaten, tied up and suffering. After the barbed wire, the figures march on. Sometimes some collapse, some are already on the ground, others are forced to walk over these people.

At the head of this group are three people, the last one has her hand in a Star of David , while the person in front bears a strong resemblance to Sophie Scholl . The group runs towards several soldier machines that kill everything that comes towards them. Behind these soldier machines there is already a hill with murdered people. These lie at the feet of a crucified Christ who bends down and extends a hand to them from the cross.

  • Relief west side 1.JPG
  • Relief west side 2.JPG
  • Relief west side 3.JPG
  • Relief west side 4.JPG

  • Detail. According to Asshoff, the front figure represents Sophie Scholl

crypt

In 1959, the French-Russian artist Léon Zack , who grew up in the Jewish faith and later converted to Catholicism, began working on the design of the crypt in his studio in Vanves, France. In 1960 the mosaics that line the entire interior were completed. The marble stones represent a network of wire shackles. Above the door, dark stones on a light gray background form the word PAX (Latin for peace ). The round shaped skylight directs the incident light through the light shaft centrally onto the cover plate of the grave site of the unknown victim. The crypt is only opened once a year, on Good Friday, following the memorial service.

Will Schwarz writes about the crypt:

"Always closed with a heavy bronze door that is only opened at the commemoration celebrations on Good Friday every year, a burial chamber is cut out inside the Males as a crypt vault, in which - under a simple grave slab - representative of the many dead who were buried in the grave field, an unidentified murdered man of French nationality rests.

A skylight gives the room, the walls of which were lined with a marble mosaic by the French artist Léon Zack, a quiet twilight.

The mosaic composed of white, gray and black marble material symbolizes in an abstract form the barbed wire shackles with which the murdered were tied to one another on their last walk. "

- I want black

  • Plaque above the entrance to the crypt

  • Crypt of the memorial

  • Crypt of the memorial

  • Crypt of the memorial

The offender

Of the 147 officers at the Hörde Gestapo guard , only 28 people were indicted in two trials in 1952 and 1954, including the three main defendants: the upholsterer journeyman Heinrich Muth , the former criminal secretary Johann Gietler and the former criminal inspector Georg Schmidt. In the first trial from January 22 to April 4, 1952, 15 of the 27 accused were acquitted, the others sentenced to terms of two to six years in prison, none for murder or accessory to murder. In the second trial from May 12 to 28, 1954, another perpetrator was tried who was on the run at the time of the first trial. He was sentenced to eight years in prison.

The victims

The exact number of victims could never be determined. In addition, only a small number of those murdered were identified. These came from resistance groups from Dortmund as well as from Lippstadt and Meinerzhagen . Since most of the victims were forced laborers and prisoners of war , they could not be identified. Prisoners were not only abducted from the Hörder Gestapo guard, but also from the police prisons in Dortmund, Bochum and Herne . During the last weeks of the war they were interned in a reception camp on the premises of the Hörder Bergwerks- und Hütten-Verein .

Identified victims include:

  • Edouard Abejan Uguen
  • Klara Adolph, born on June 16, 1892 in Erkelenz , from Essen, Jewish; after denunciation from the population she was arrested on November 27, 1944 and murdered on April 6, 1945 in the Bittermark.

  • Karl Altenhenne

  • Jakob Bink

  • Karl Altenhenne, born on July 23, 1878 in Huckarde , Hauer , KPD city councilor in Dortmund (1928 to 1933). Altenhenne was in “ protective custody ” from May 24 to June 2 and from June 15, 1933 to May 18, 1934 , most recently in the Esterwegen concentration camp . The Gestapo arrested him and his family again on February 9, 1945.
  • Agnes Becker, member of the Dortmund St. Barbara congregation in Eving , shot dead in Rombergpark.
  • Johann Berg, a communist from Lünen , was arrested on March 30, 1945 and shot shortly afterwards.
  • Jakob Bink, born on June 5, 1886 in Roßrechtebach near Wetzlar, married to Hedwig Köchling, five children, bricklayer, KPD city councilor in Lünen (1923 to 1927). From December 1935 to April 1939, Bink was imprisoned almost continuously in various prisons and concentration camps, including Esterwegen, Sachsenhausen and Buchenwald. He was last arrested on March 30, 1945 and pronounced dead on April 20.

  • Gustave Blondel

  • As a Frenchman, Gustave Blondel was a member of a 25-person theater group for foreign civilian workers in Iserlohn. Denounced as spies, the group was arrested by the Dortmund Gestapo on February 18, 1945, mistreated at the headquarters in Hörde and murdered in the Bittermark region in mid-March due to the extorted confessions.
  • Wilhelm Beutel, born on June 18, 1897 in German home ( Moravia ), trained farrier , Austrian soldier in World War I , machinist at the Westfalenhütte . Beutel was arrested on February 9, 1945 with his wife, who was released. Bag was found dead on April 19, 1945 in Rombergpark.
  • Gustav Budnick was born on November 15, 1906 in Schiffus in East Prussia . Budnick was a miner at the Minister Stein colliery ; he was dismissed without notice in 1932 after a strike call. Between 1932 and 1937 Budnick was on the run or imprisoned, most recently in 1937 in Buchenwald concentration camp . From 1938 Budnick worked again at the Minister Stein mine. Budnick was arrested again on February 9, 1945 and found dead on April 19, 1945 in Rombergpark.
  • Heinrich Alfred Butschkau, born on September 17, 1908 in Plettenberg , found dead on April 21, 1945 in Bittermark.

  • Lèon Chadirac

  • Heinrich Czerkus

  • Lèon Chadirac, born November 1, 1911, welder from Saint-Amand-les-Eaux , was taken prisoner on May 31, 1940, first in the forced labor camp VI A in Hemer, then in Lippstadt and Dortmund. On March 22, 1945 he was charged with belonging to a communist resistance force and murdered in the Bittermark region during Easter week in 1945.
  • Heinrich Czerkus , born on October 27, 1894, for the KPD in the city council of Dortmund, club manager of Borussia Dortmund .
  • August Dombrowski, communist from Lünen , was arrested on March 30, 1945 and shot shortly afterwards.
  • Robert Dayredk
  • Paul Deleforge-Burette
  • Leon Deloor, French prisoner of war and forced labor at the Westphalian Union plant in Lippstadt
  • Johann Dorenkamp was born on June 13, 1898 in Hövelhof near Paderborn . Soldier in World War I. Since 1930 member of the Kampfbund against Fascism . Arrested several times, most recently on February 15, 1945. Dorenkamp was found dead on April 19, 1945 in Rombergpark.
  • Franz Engelhardt, worker at the Union plant in Lippstadt. He organized the resistance with work colleagues in the company, distributed foreign radio news and was in close contact with the French forced laborers of the Union. Born on December 7, 1905, found dead on April 21, 1945 in Bittermark.
  • Heinrich Julius Eversberg, born on January 24th, 1898 in Hattingen , active member of the KPD, found dead on April 21st, 1945 in the Bittermark.
  • Albert Felsch, born on December 13, 1890 in Dortmund, city councilor in Dortmund, arrested between 1933 and 1935, most recently imprisoned in the Esterwegen concentration camp . Felsch worked as a metal smelter from 1936 and was arrested with his wife on February 9, 1945; this was released again. Felsch was found dead on April 19, 1945 in Rombergpark.
  • Stefan Freitag, non-party worker at the Union plant in Lippstadt. He organized the resistance with work colleagues in the company, distributed foreign radio news and was in close contact with the French forced laborers of the Union. Born on February 13, 1905, found dead on April 21, 1945 in Bittermark.
  • Emil Paul Frescher, born on June 26, 1889 in Zirke , Birnbaum district , imprisoned for political reasons as early as 1933. Frescher and his wife were arrested on February 7, 1945. Ms. Frescher was freed by the Americans in Herne , Frescher was found dead on April 19, 1945 in Rombergpark.
  • Josef Gabartas, born on September 26, 1912 in Dortmund, administrative employee. Expelled from Germany in 1934. As a Lithuanian citizen, returned to Dortmund with German troops from Lithuania in 1945 . Gabartas was arrested on March 30, 1945 and shot on April 5, 1945 in Rombergpark.
  • Robert Geoffroy
  • Martha Gillessen , born November 30, 1901 in Laer . Gillessen was an active member of the KPD. During the Second World War she hid refugees, including the writer Charlotte Temming , from the Gestapo. She was found dead on April 19, 1945 in Rombergpark.
  • Wladislaus Halbing, born on January 24, 1897 in Silbersdorf , Thorn district , Bergmann in Dortmund. He was a member of the KPD. Halbing was imprisoned in the Dortmund Steinwache in 1933, then in the Esterwegen concentration camp. After its dissolution, Halbing was transferred to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, from which he was released in 1938. Halbing was arrested in February 1945 and found dead on April 19, 1945 in Rombergpark.
  • Emil Heyen, born on April 23, 1904 in Dortmund, lathe operator at the Westfalenhütte. 1935 accused of preparing for high treason and acquitted for lack of evidence. Heyen was arrested again on February 9, 1945 and found dead on April 19, 1945 in Rombergpark.
  • Hans Hippler, born on April 14, 1895 in Allenstein in East Prussia, soldier in the First World War, then a fighter in the Freikorps , chairman of the handball department of Borussia Dortmund . Arrested several times, imprisoned in Buchenwald concentration camp from 1939 to 1943. Hippler was last arrested on February 15, 1945 and found dead on April 19, 1945 in Rombergpark.
  • Ernst Hollweg from Meinerzhagen, born on March 16, 1895, found dead on April 21, 1945 in Bittermark.
  • Bernhard Höltmann, communist from Lünen , was arrested on March 30, 1945 and shot shortly afterwards.
  • Jakob Junglas from Meinerzhagen, born on October 28, 1882, found dead on April 21, 1945 in the Bittermark.
  • August Hermann Kanwischer, born on December 22nd, 1902 in Ladenberg an der Warthe . Imprisoned from 1933 to 1935 for distributing leaflets. Kanwischer worked as a chess master from 1936. On February 9, 1945, Kanwischer was arrested again and found dead on April 19, 1945 in Rombergpark.
  • Friedrich-Wilhelm Kessler from Meinerzhagen, born on October 4, 1902, found dead on April 21, 1945 in Bittermark.
  • Albert Klar, worker at the Union plant in Lippstadt and Christian trade unionist. He organized the resistance with work colleagues in the company, distributed foreign radio news and was in close contact with the French forced laborers of the Union. Born on March 7, 1892, found dead on April 21, 1945 in Bittermark.

  • Karl Klose

  • Josef Kriska

  • Karl Klose, born on January 3, 1908 in Dortmund, locksmith from the Minster Stein colliery. Klose was active in the resistance, was arrested on February 9, 1945 and found dead on April 19, 1945 in Rombergpark.
  • Karl Wilhelm Franz Knie, Hattingen, born on November 17, 1920, found dead in Bittermark on April 21, 1945.
  • Johann König, a communist from Lünen , was arrested on March 30, 1945 and shot shortly afterwards.
  • Josef Kriska, born on May 18, 1890, works council at the Gneisenau and Scharnhorst collieries, member of the KPD. On March 29, 1945, he was arrested by the Gestapo, taken to the camp at the Phoenix plant and shot in one of the numerous bomb craters. The official date of death was 8 May 1945.
  • Johann Liebner, worker at the Union plant in Lippstadt and Christian trade unionist. He organized the resistance with work colleagues in the company, distributed foreign radio news and was in close contact with the French forced laborers of the Union. Born on June 18, 1899, found dead on April 21, 1945 in Bittermark.

  • Paul Mainusch

  • Paul Mainusch, born on April 25, 1902 in Ruda in Upper Silesia , Mainusch was dismissed without notice as a works council member of the Hörder Bergwerks- und Hütten-Verein in 1929 and imprisoned in the Esterwegen concentration camp for one year in 1933. From 1937 he was a blast furnace worker at the Westfalenhütte plant. On February 6, 1945, he was drafted into the army and arrested on February 9, 1945 in Wuppertal . At the same time, his wife was arrested in Dortmund. This was liberated by the Americans on April 7, 1945 in Herne, Mainusch was found dead on April 19, 1945 in Rombergpark.
  • Paul Marschall, born on October 2, 1896, found dead on April 21, 1945 in Bittermark.

  • Erich Mörchel

  • Karl Mörchel

  • Erich Mörchel, born on December 21, 1908 in Dortmund. Between 1933 and 1937 he was arrested and imprisoned several times, most recently in Sachsenhausen concentration camp . From 1938 to 1944 he worked as a tuscher on the Scharnhorst mine of Harpener Bergbau AG , then at C. Deilmann Bergbau GmbH. Erich Mörchel was arrested on February 9, 1945 together with his brother Karl. Both were found dead on April 19, 1945 in Rombergpark.
  • Karl Mörchel, born on January 7, 1903 in Angerburg in East Prussia, miner at the Hansa and Westhausen collieries in Dortmund . Arrested and imprisoned several times between 1934 and 1937. Karl Mörchel was arrested on February 9, 1945 and found dead on April 19, 1945 in Rombergpark.
  • Fritz Müller from Meinerzhagen, born on July 13, 1895, member of the Meinerzhagen anti-fascist resistance group , found dead on April 21, 1945 in Bittermark.
  • Wilhelm Müller, born on December 3, 1904 in Gumbinnen in East Prussia , worker of the Hörder Bergwerks- und Hütten-Verein. Müller was arrested on February 9, 1945 and found dead on April 19, 1945 in Rombergpark.

  • Julius Nierstenhöfer

  • Julius Nierstenhöfer, born on March 29, 1886, city councilor of the SPD in Hagen. He had contacts with the Dortmund resistance and spent more than four years in prison for “preparation for high treason”. He was arrested again on February 9, 1945 and found dead on April 21, 1945 in Bittermark.
  • Bruno Nowak, born on December 6, 1904 in Wilatowen , Mogilno district in Pomerania, machinist at Wilhelm Sander & Co. in Lünen . Imprisoned in the Esterwegen concentration camp in 1933. Then electric welder for the Hörder mining and smelting association. Nowak was arrested on February 17, 1945 and found dead on April 21, 1945 in Bittermark.

  • Paul Pietzko

  • Julia cracks

  • Paul Pietzko, born on February 23, 1906, went blind in the First World War , member of the KPD. After several years' imprisonment, the last from February 9, 1945, he was found dead on April 21, 1945 in the Bittermark.
  • Julie Risse, née Salomon, from Essen, Jewish; after denunciation by a neighbor she was arrested on February 21, 1945 and murdered on April 6, 1945 in the Bittermark.
  • Franz Schiemann, born on May 31, 1902 in Dortmund, KPD functionary. Between 1933 and 1935 Schiemann was arrested several times and was most recently imprisoned in the Brandenburg an der Havel concentration camp . In the last days of the war Schiemann was arrested again and found dead on April 19, 1945 in Rombergpark.
  • Friedrich Wilhelm Schrage, born on December 23, 1913, lives in Wanne-Eickel, Schmelzer at the Schalke Club. After being denounced by a neighbor, he was picked up by the Gestapo on November 18, 1944, "for spreading opinions about the hopelessness of war and insulting Hitler". In mid-March 1945 he was transferred to the Gestapo in Hörde and on April 21, 1945 in the Bittermark found shot.

  • Friedrich Schramm

  • Franz Schultenjohann

  • Friedrich Schramm, born on November 6, 1889 in Aplerbeck , pit fitter at the Minister Stein colliery, active in the resistance since 1942. Schramm was arrested on February 8, 1945 together with his wife. Ms. Schramm was released a few days later. Schramm was found dead on April 21, 1945 in Bittermark.
  • Karl Schröter, communist from Bochum, murdered in the Bittermark.
  • Franz Schultenjohann, born on September 18, 1903, rope worker at the wire rope works Union Lippstadt and Christian trade unionist. He organized the resistance with work colleagues in the company, distributed foreign radio news and was in close contact with the French forced laborers of the Union. He was arrested at the end of 1944 on charges of belonging to a resistance group, brought to Dortmund on Good Friday night and found dead in Bittermark on April 21, 1945.
  • Karl Schwartz, born on January 27, 1893 in Oletzko in East Prussia, miner and works council at the Hermann mine in Selm . Community representative in Hombruch . Imprisoned several times between 1932 and 1936, most recently in Oranienburg concentration camp . Schwartz was arrested on February 13, 1945 and found dead on April 19, 1945 in Rombergpark.
  • August Senf, communist resistance fighter, lived on Märkische Strasse in Schwerte, murdered by the Gestapo in April 1945 in Bittermark.
  • Alexander Sieke, born on February 9, 1904 in Hörde, locksmith and electric welder for the Hörder Bergwerks- und Hütten-Verein. Sieke was arrested on February 9, 1945 and found dead on April 19, 1945 in Rombergpark.
  • Friedrich (Fritz) Sprink, worker at the Union plant in Lippstadt. He organized the resistance with work colleagues in the company, distributed foreign radio news and was in close contact with the French forced laborers of the Union. Born on September 28, 1905, found dead on April 21, 1945 in Bittermark.
  • Franz and Maria Suchocki, members of Dortmund's St. Barbara congregation in Eving , shot dead in Rombergpark.
  • Heinrichteile, born on February 7th, 1892, found dead on April 21st, 1945 in the Bittermark.

  • Stumbling block for Alex Uesseler, Solingen, Melanchtonstr. 33

  • Paul Weber

  • Alex Uesseler, born on May 10, 1900 in Solingen , Schleifer , KPD city councilor in Lüdenscheid , imprisoned between 1933 and 1934, most recently in the Börgermoor concentration camp . Uessler was arrested again in 1945 and taken to the Dortmund Steinwache. On April 19, 1945 he was found dead in Rombergpark.
  • Robert Vanderyssen
  • Paul Weber, born on February 21, 1900 in Lüdenscheid , locksmith, most recently porter at the Dortmund public utilities . He belonged to the resistance group around his neighbor Erich Mörchel. Weber was arrested on February 9, 1945 and found dead on April 19, 1945 in Rombergpark.
  • Wilhelm Wehling, born on March 29, 1904 in the Wasserkurl district of Unna , miner at the Massener Tiefbau colliery . Wehling was arrested on February 19, 1945 and found dead on April 21, 1945 in Rombergpark.

  • Wilhelm Weihler

  • Wilhelm Gustav Weihler, born on January 22nd, 1897, criminal investigator and, due to the reorganization of his office, Gestapo officer from April 1st, 1934. When his connection to the Dortmund resistance became known, he was arrested by the Gestapo and found dead on April 21, 1945 in Bittermark.
  • Fritz Weller
  • Hugo Wiegold, communist from Bochum, murdered in the Bittermark.
  • Johann Wiesner, born on December 28, 1897, found dead on April 21, 1945 in the Bittermark.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Wolfgang Asshoff: Suffering in stone The reliefs of the memorial in the Bittermark. Published by the city of Dortmund. P. 29.
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Asshoff: Suffering in stone The reliefs of the memorial in the Bittermark. Published by the city of Dortmund. P. 21.
  3. ↑ Wolfgang Asshoff: Suffering in stone. The reliefs of the memorial in the Bittermark. City of Dortmund, Dortmund 2014, pp. 26–27, 29–30.
  4. ↑ There is still no grass growing over it ... In: Die Zeit. Issue 07, year 1952, from February 14, 1952.
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Förderverein Gedenkstätte Steinwache / International Rombergpark Committee: Good Friday rally 2016. The 2016 speeches of March 31, 2016. Accessed on June 6, 2017.
  6. Jump up ↑ Gelsenzentrum: Crimes in the final stages . Retrieved July 9, 2015.
  7. ↑ Path of Remembrance. In: weg-der-erinnerung.de. www.weg-der-erinnerung.de, accessed on October 11, 2015 .
  8. ↑ a b Evinger Geschichtsverein eV: Stumbling blocks as a path to reconciliation , p. 3. Accessed on June 6, 2017.
  9. ^ A b c d Association of those persecuted by the Nazi regime, Landesvereinigung Nordrhein-Westfalen: Speeches at the commemorative event on Good Friday in the Bittermark near Dortmund on April 1, 2016. Accessed on June 6, 2017.
  10. ^ A b Förderverein Gedenkstätte Steinwache / Internationales Rombergpark Committee: Good Friday 2015: Several thousand Dortmunders remember the victims of the Good Friday murders of April 3, 2015. Accessed on June 6, 2017.
  11. ↑ Evinger Geschichtsverein eV: Stumbling blocks as a path to reconciliation , p. 4. Accessed on June 6, 2017.
  12. ↑ a b c d Friends of the Steinwache Memorial / International Romberg Park Committee: Good Friday Memorial 2013 of March 29, 2013. Accessed on June 6, 2017.
  13. ^ A b c d e f Association of those persecuted by the Nazi regime, Landesvereinigung Nordrhein-Westfalen: In memory of the victims of the Good Friday murders in Dortmund on April 20, 2014. Accessed on June 6, 2017.
  14. ^ City of Bochum: Stumbling block for H. Julius Eversberg . Retrieved April 2, 2015.
  15. ↑ a b c Association of those persecuted by the Nazi regime, State Association of North Rhine-Westphalia: Memorial event and wreath-laying ceremony , October 2016. Retrieved on June 6, 2017.
  16. ^ City of Herne: Murdered in the Bittermark . Retrieved June 4, 2014.
  17. ↑ The 20th century. In: ruhrtalmuseum.de. Retrieved October 11, 2015 .
  18. ↑ Solingen City Archives: Alex Uesseler ( Memento from April 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved July 29, 2020
  19. ^ City of Dortmund: Brochure: Dortmund in the Nazi era, from 2008, p. 12

Web links

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

literature

  • City administration Dortmund, information and press office (ed.): Dortmund Good Friday 1945. Westphalian printing, Dortmund 1971.
  • Wolfgang Asshoff: The Dortmund Bittermark and its memorial. A documentation. Self-published, Dortmund 1988.
  • Ulrich Sander: Murder in Rombergpark. Factual report. Grafit, Dortmund 1995, ISBN 3-89425-900-0 .
  • Hans Müller: "We have forgiven but not forgotten ..." The Buchenwald subcamp in Dortmund (= series of publications on the history of everyday life in Dortmund. Volume 3). History workshop Dortmund, Dortmund 1994, ISBN 3-928970-02-X .
  • Lore Junge : Tied up with barbed wire. The Romberg Park Murders. Victim and perpetrator. Ruhr-Echo-Verlag, Bochum 1999, ISBN 3-931999-07-6 .
  • Resistance and persecution in Dortmund 1933–1945. Permanent exhibition and documentation on behalf of the City Council of Dortmund created by the city archive. With the participation of Ewald Kurtz. Introduction by Hans Mommsen
  • Wolfgang Asshoff: The commemorations in the Dortmund Bittermark 1945–2009. Dortmund 2010.
  • Wolfgang Asshoff: Leiden in Stein The reliefs of the memorial in the Bittermark . Dortmund 2014.
  • Jan Niko Kirschbaum: memorials as signs of time. National Socialism in the culture of remembrance in North Rhine-Westphalia . transcript, Bielefeld 2020, ISBN 978-3-8376-5064-8 , Chapter 2.7: Signs of Reconciliation: The Bittermark Monument in Dortmund (1960) , pp. 156-184.

Coordinates: 51 ° 26 '53 "  N , 7 ° 28' 44"  E