Spremberg proudly commemorates the victims of the November pogroms in 1938

Spremberg proudly commemorates the victims of the November pogroms in 1938

On November 9, 2025, a memorial event took place in Spremberg in honor of the victims of the November pogroms of 1938. Around 150 people followed the call to remember the persecuted people who lived in or came from the city during National Socialism. This public commemoration has been held annually since 2021 and is an important part of the culture of remembrance in the region. At the event, 194 names of those affected were read out, which deeply touched the participants.

As part of the commemoration, an impressive play was performed that discussed the history of forced laborers in the region during the Third Reich. This performance highlighted the painful memories that many people in the region associate with this dark time. In the afternoon, an exhibition was opened in the town hall, which was organized by the AG Trace Search and the #unteilbar Spremberg alliance.

Remembering the past

This exhibition presented the fates of people who were persecuted from 1938 onwards, including Ernst and Martha Tschickert and Reinhold Arndt. Stolpersteine ​​were laid for these people in October to remind them of their fate. The exhibition will be accessible during regular town hall opening hours until the end of December 2025.

Gunter Demnig, the initiator of the Stolperstein laying, announced that he would return to Spremberg in March 2026 to lay more Stolpersteine. He will also give a lecture on March 6, 2026, which will certainly attract great interest.

Commemoration in a regional context

But the victims of the pogrom night were not only remembered in Spremberg. Various commemorative events also took place in Cottbus this weekend. On Friday, November 7th, numerous people gathered on Karl-Liebknecht-Straße, the site of the former synagogue. The events of 1938 were remembered there, when the synagogue was set on fire and Jewish shops were destroyed. Mayor Tobias Schick emphasized the importance of commemoration for the city's self-image.

Students and brass players from the Evangelical High School designed the program, while the Piccolo Theater opened an exhibition about eight Jewish children from Cottbus on Sunday evening. The in-house production “Anne”, inspired by the life of Anne Frank, offered a moving evening that was very well received. The response showed that commemorating the events of 1938 in Lusatia is very important.

Overall, this large number of memorial events illustrates how important it is not to forget the past and to keep the memory of the victims of the Nazi regime alive. This is the only way the region, which bears many wounds, can create a better and fairer coexistence for the future. Niederlausitz Current and Radio Cottbus report in detail about the important events and the important work on site.