Magdeburg remembers: A place for the victims of the Christmas market attack!

Magdeburg remembers: A place for the victims of the Christmas market attack!

A sign of remembrance will be placed in the heart of Magdeburg. The city council has decided to create a permanent memorial for the victims of the attack on the Christmas market. With this step, those responsible want to give a sign of remembrance and resilience not only to those affected and their relatives, but to the entire community. Borken newspaper reports that an open artistic ideas competition is being organized. All submitted designs will be incorporated into a citizen participation process so that the design of the memorial site does justice to the community. Completion is scheduled for the end of September 2026.

Until this point, St. John's Church will function as a temporary memorial site. The city council plans to inaugurate two memorial sites before the first anniversary of the attack, which took place on December 20, 2024. These include a memorial stone on Harzstraße/corner of Ernst-Reuter-Allee, which is dedicated to all those affected and those who helped, as well as individually designed memorial stones for those who died.

Citizen participation and creative ideas

As part of the commemoration, the city administration will use the city's citizen participation portal to actively involve the population in the design process. Artistic designs that have already been submitted will also be taken into account so that creative ideas can be well received. However, it remains to be seen how the citizens' suggestions will be implemented in concrete terms.

A recently rejected proposal was for a Christmas market on the Old Market as it would have required significant infrastructure interventions. The idea of ​​placing sculptures was also not met with approval - the planning and production effort was simply too high, as the administration reported. Instead, they are considering installing a memorial stone on Hartstrasse, where the crime ended, as well as a bench with six empty seats as another symbolic monument.

Culture of remembrance and responsibility

Every memorial contributes to the memory of tragic events and helps to preserve humanity. The victims of the attack are also remembered in Magdeburg so that the tragedy is not forgotten. An important element of the memorial sites should also be the dissemination of information about the tragedy that occurred in order to raise awareness among the population. This includes the mourning and remembrance of the victims, which will be deeply etched in the city's memory. Federal Agency for Civic Education highlights how important such places are in the context of the culture of remembrance.

The city council not only took care of the memorial sites, but also the regulations for the future course of the Christmas market. In the future, the market will be allowed to open before the Sunday of the Dead, but it will remain closed on December 20th in order to honor the respectful memory of those affected. The administration was also commissioned to examine the possibilities of how affected stand operators could be compensated for any loss of sales that may arise.

With this decision, the city of Magdeburg shows a responsibility towards the past and is beginning to establish a culture of remembrance that goes far beyond the pure act of remembering.