Memorial for the victims of forced sterilization under National Socialism

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The memorial at the health and youth welfare department

The memorial for the victims of forced sterilization under National Socialism is a memorial created by the sculptor Michael Volkmer , which does not have a permanent location and has been set up at the institutions in Mannheim that have been actively involved in the implementation of the forced sterilization program of the National Socialists since 2013 .

description

The memorial resembles a huge stumbling block . On the front of the memorial there is the inscription of a victim (“Because they think I am less worthy than others”) and the reference “Forced sterilization is a crime”. The sculpture encourages reflection and remembrance in institutions and places where the subject of forced sterilization was present and actively supported during the times of National Socialism .

The artist Michael Volkmer describes his artistic idea as follows:

Inscription of the memorial

“The memorial looks like a large stack of 1000 cubes fused into a homogeneous and anonymous mass. Each cube can symbolically stand for an individual fate in which all corners and edges are sanded off; every 'otherness' was leveled out in this way. The color is reminiscent of hospitals and government offices; the shiny surface looks cold and rejecting. The viewer is shadowy reflected in it and thus becomes part of the memorial himself - maybe he would have been involved at the time. Be it as a victim or as a perpetrator. "

history

During the time of National Socialism, over 1000 people in Mannheim were forcibly sterilized against their will because of allegedly hereditary nonsense, mental illness and physical ailments due to the "Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseased Offspring" passed on July 14, 1933 . The victims were socially marginalized and mutilated both mentally and physically. Doctors, judges, teachers, welfare workers and many informers were involved in carrying out the forced sterilization, but they were not held responsible. The memorial was created on the initiative of the “Working Group on Justice and the History of National Socialism in Mannheim”. In 2012, the city of Mannheim announced a competition for the creation of a portable memorial, which Michael Volkmer won. Since 2013, the memorial has been erected to commemorate the victims at the sites of the crime.

Every single cube differs in its size

Locations

The first location of the mobile memorial was the Mannheim District Court on Bismarckstrasse, which also served as the “ hereditary health court ” during the Nazi era . This was followed by locations at the University Medical Center Mannheim , at the deaconess hospital and the health and youth welfare department, where it is located from 2017 to 2019.

Depending on the location, different schools take on sponsorship if possible and pass this on to other schools after one year. The purpose of this sponsorship is to deal with the subject of forced sterilization.

The following schools have already sponsored:

In 2018, an online presence was created in addition to the physical memorial on the initiative of the Max Hachenburg School. The aim of this website is, on the one hand, to offer pupils a space for contributions that deal with the thematic aspects of forced sterilization and the memorial. On the other hand, further background information should be made available to the viewer of the memorial.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mobile stumbling block wanders on. Mannheimer Morgen, accessed on February 5, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Memorial for the victims of forced sterilization is a reminder at the health department. City of Mannheim, accessed on February 5, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Memorial to the Victims of Forced Sterilization. City of Mannheim, accessed on February 5, 2018 .
  4. ^ Announcement for the memorial in memory of the victims of forced sterilization. Stadtgalerie Mannheim, accessed on February 5, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Unveiling of the memorial for the victims of forced sterilization in Mannheim. AK Justice and City of Mannheim, accessed on February 5, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Ninth graders take on sponsorship. Mannheimer Morgen, accessed on February 5, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Against oblivion: memorial for the victims of forced sterilization in Mannheim has a new location. City of Mannheim, accessed on February 5, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Memorial for the Victims of Forced Sterilization. Ludwig-Frank-Gymnasium, accessed on February 5, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Memorial for the victims of forced sterilization is a reminder at the health department. City of Mannheim, accessed on February 5, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Hike the memorial for the victims of the Nazi forced sterilization to the health department in R1. AK Justice, accessed on February 5, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Event information . AK Justice, accessed on February 5, 2018 .
  12. ↑ Homepage of the memorial. Max-Hachenburg-Schule and AK Justice, accessed on March 14, 2018 .