Does this place echo with the pain of a silenced community? Here stands the Erinnerungsmal f\u00fcr j\u00fcdische Opfer. It is a memorial for Jewish victims in Hamburg. Hamburg remembers the Jewish victims of Nazi persecution through many memorials. This Erinnerungsmal f\u00fcr j\u00fcdische Opfer is one such place.
After World War II many memorials emerged. The first memorials were simple. They evolved into more elaborate forms of remembrance. In 1949 a memorial was erected in Ohlsdorf Cemetery. It honored victims of Nazi persecution. A memorial stone was placed in the Jewish cemetery at Ilandkoppel in 1951. It commemorates about 10.000 Jewish people from Hamburg. These people fell victim to Nazi genocide. French survivors initiated a memorial column near the Neuengamme concentration camp in 1953. This was replaced by a memorial in a park-like setting in 1965.
Later in the 1970s a stronger public reckoning with the Nazi past arose. This led to more memorials and remembrance sites. Some included information elements and exhibitions. Associations and history workshops championed marking memorial sites. The Vereinigung Kinder vom Bullenhuser Damm opened an exhibition in 1980. It was located in the cellar of a school. Twenty Jewish children had been hanged there by SS men in April 1945. The Neuengamme concentration camp memorial added a documentation center in 1981. It featured a permanent exhibition. This exhibition detailed the concentration camp system and the history of Neuengamme. A new Heine monument was unveiled on the Rathausmarkt in 1982. It commemorated the book burnings. It also remembered the destruction of the original Heine monument by the Nazis.
The Kulturbeh\u00f6rde developed signage programs. These programs marked “St\u00e4tten der Verfolgung und des Widerstandes 1933-1945” and “St\u00e4tten j\u00fcdischen Lebens”. Over 40 sites were marked. They recalled the events of 1933-1945. They also remembered the destruction of Jewish sites by the Nazis. The “Stolpersteine” are set into the sidewalks. These stones commemorate individual deportees and murder victims. They are placed in front of their former homes.
A place becomes a memorial when art commemorates a historical event. This is done through monuments or exhibitions. A 2009 guide listed 75 memorials in Hamburg. These memorials meet these criteria. This number shows the extent of persecution and wartime suffering. It also shows Hamburg’s diverse remembrance culture. Before this, the presence of two concentration camps within Hamburg was ignored. Fuhlsb\u00fcttel concentration camp represents the start of Nazi terror in Northern Germany. Neuengamme concentration camp represents the spread of terror across Europe.
Today memorials in Fuhlsb\u00fcttel and Neuengamme have exhibitions. Plaques mark most of the satellite camp locations. Other memorials recall the persecution of Jewish people and other victim groups. They also commemorate resistance efforts and the effects of bombings. Two learning centers focus on the history of Hamburg’s Jewish community. They explain their exclusion, dispossession and persecution. They also highlight Jewish life after the Holocaust. These are the Gedenk- und Bildungsst\u00e4tte Israelitische T\u00f6chterschule and the Museum f\u00fcr Hamburgische Geschichte. The museum has a permanent exhibition called “Juden in Hamburg”. It portrays the 400-year history of Jewish life in Altona, Hamburg and Wandsbek.
Hamburg’s culture of remembrance includes encounters with contemporary witnesses. The city has programs for former citizens forced to leave. A Senate program has fostered contact since 1965. Over 3,000 people have been invited to the city. Many of them live in Israel and overseas. The Erinnerungsmal f\u00fcr j\u00fcdische Opfer stands as a reminder. It calls on us to remember the past. It urges us to learn. It inspires us to build a more tolerant future.