Worpswede: Dispute over memorial stele for Nazi victims-wording under criticism!

Worpswede: Dispute over memorial stele for Nazi victims-wording under criticism!

Worpswede, Deutschland - In Worpswede, an important project to honor the victims of National Socialism was initiated. A working group has presented a draft for a stele that is intended to serve as a memorial for the people murdered under National Socialism. This stele will be a 1.9 -meter granite object in which the inscription "to commemorate the people murdered in National Socialism in National Socialism", the Weser Kurier .

The critical voices for the design are unmistakable: Horst Rasch has sharply criticized the planned wording and demands a more precise representation. He suggests that the engraving should be: "To commemorate the 20 murdered Worpsweder". It quickly states that the majority of the 20 people who are to be honored were not murdered directly in Worpswede, but were killed in concentration camps or euthanasia clinics. Burckhard Rehage, the spokesman for the "Refurbishment Nazi era in Worpswede" working group, has recognized this objection as comprehensible and indicates that changes in the draft could be made.

a souvenir project with many facets

The memorial will not only offer space for the 20 murdered people, but each of the honored receives an individual badge that contains its name as well as birth and death dates. Among them are well-known names such as Rosa Abraham, which was dragged to the Treblinka extermination camp in 1942, as well as the Steinberg and twelve other Worpsweder couple, which were victims of the Euthanasia program. In addition, the stele is reminiscent of the baby Gabriela Przygoda, which is buried in the cemetery on Weyerberg. Interestingly, the research on the Nazi victims in Worpswede has not yet been completed, and the stele will also offer space for additional names.

To finance the memorial, a total of 17,000 euros are required, which are collected by donations and the support of the Worpswede community. An information board nearby should offer more information about the people concerned and was regarded as an important element of the project. The official completion of the memorial is planned for January 27, 2026, the international day of commemoration to the victims of National Socialism.

part of a larger memorial network

The project in Worpswede is part of a comprehensive endeavor to expand the souvenir landscape in Germany. According to a database of the Federal Center for Political Education, there are around 450 memorials, museums, documentation centers and memorials that are reminiscent of the victims of National Socialism. These Stéphres are set up in places of action, such as concentration camps, prisons and synagogues. The diversity of these places of remembrance and civil society commitment is continuously updated in order to keep the culture of memory alive, according to the database Memorials .

These memorial initiatives are of crucial importance in order to give the victims a voice and not to be forgotten their stories. The project in Worpswede will therefore not only be a stele for the past, but also a sign of the future of the culture of memory in Germany.