Neckarzimmern memorial
The Neckarzimmern memorial commemorates the deportation of almost all Jews from Baden , the Palatinate and Saarland on October 22 and 23, 1940 to the Gurs internment camp as part of the Wagner-Bürckel campaign . It is the only memorial to these events in Baden.
The memorial consists on the one hand of a 25 by 25 meter floor sculpture in the form of a Star of David , which is located on the grounds of the youth meeting center in Neckarzimmern . The second part of the concept provides for memorial stones to be created - one pair for each of the 138 places in the region from which Jews were deported - one of which remains in place and the other is integrated into the central floor sculpture. By April 2018, memorial stones had been made in 121 communities.
The central floor sculpture in Neckarzimmern was presented to the public on October 23, 2005.
concept
In each of the 138 places from which Jews were deported, youth groups or school classes are supposed to deal with the events of that time and design two memorial stones . One of the two stones is to remain in the community and be given an appropriate location there, the other stone will be part of the central memorial in Neckarzimmern.
The artist Karl Vollmer from Gondelsheim , who designed the floor sculpture , refers to the process character of the project: “With the floor sculpture, only the 'static part' was created. The other part - the dynamic one - is the memory work of the youth in the home communities and the making of stones as a memorial. "
The ecumenical youth project memorial is supervised by the Evangelical Children and Youth Organization and the Pastoral Office of the Archdiocese of Freiburg .
Neckarzimmern location
The central memorial as a place of remembrance should be located on the site of a church institution that is visited by many young people. The conference site in Neckarzimmern was considered a suitable location, especially since it harbors additional symbolic power for the project: During the Second World War, there was a camp for forced laborers on the site . The memorial is located on a meadow above the conference site.
The memorial is freely accessible. An information board explains the background and the objectives of the youth project. Work aids and information materials were created. Guided tours are possible on request.
Historical background
Other places in the Upper Neckar region were also the scene of National Socialist persecution. Concentration camp prisoners had to do forced labor in the gypsum tunnels for the armaments industry ; Numerous Jewish communities fell victim to the racial madness - among them the Israelite community Neckarzimmern, whose members living there were abducted on October 22, 1940.
literature
- Laharie, Claude: GURS: 1939–1945. An internment camp in south-west France. Published by the Evangelical Church in Baden, Biarritz / Karlsruhe 2005, available from the Peace Office, EOK, Blumenstr. 1-7, 76133 Karlsruhe
- Stude, Jürgen: The memorial in memory of the deported Baden Jews in Neckarzimmern, in: Yearbook for Baden Church and Religious History (2007,) pp. 279–287, ISBN 978-3-17-019791-6 .
- Teschner, Gerhard J .: The deportation of the Jews from Baden and Saar-Palatinate on October 22, 1940. Prehistory and implementation of the deportation and the further fate of the deportees up to the end of the war in the context of French Jewish policy, Frankfurt a. M. et al. 2002, ISBN 978-3-631-39509-7
Web links
- Memorial project of the Archdiocese of Freiburg
- Project website of the Evangelical Church in Baden
- Neckarzimmern memorial on Allemannia Judaica.de , working group for research into the history of Jews in southern Germany and the neighboring region
Coordinates: 49 ° 19 ′ 26.6 ″ N , 9 ° 8 ′ 36.2 ″ E