Pause for a moment here. This Gedenktafel Deportation Plaque marks a site of profound sorrow. Before us lies a stark reminder of a dark chapter in Berlin’s history.
This Gedenktafel Deportation Plaque commemorates the systematic deportation of Jewish people from Berlin. Before the Platform 17 Memorial was erected in 1998, commemorative plaques existed at Grunewald station. But there was no permanent reminder of the violence against Jewish people. The first permanent memorial was created by the Polish artist Karol Broniatowski. Since 1991, a concrete wall shows negative imprints of human bodies. It has commemorated the long walks to the deportation stations.
The Grunewald station was one of three stations. A total of 55,000 Berlin Jews were deported from here. Mostly to Theresienstadt. It functioned as a way station, or directly to the extermination camps.
The Deutsche Bahn held a competition to design a new memorial. The winning design was submitted by architects Nicolaus Hirsch, Wolfgang Lorch and Andrea Wandel. The memorial consists of 186 cast steel plates. They are embedded in the railroad ballast. On these plates, the dates and destinations of all deportation trains from Berlin are noted. The number of Jews deported is also noted in each case. Vegetation has spread between the tracks. It is a symbol that no train will ever leave the station at this track again.
The Gedenktafel Deportation Plaque serves as a solemn reminder. Between 1941 and 1945, countless individuals were forcibly removed from their homes. They were transported to concentration camps. The transports went to Riga, Warsaw, Auschwitz-Birkenau and Theresienstadt.
The memorial shows a freight car. It shows a group of bound people driven over a ramp into it. It shows a towering iron wall with the date. It shows the number of people. It shows the destination of 63 deportations from Berlin. The deportations took place between December 18, 1941 and March/April 1945. Between transport 17 from July 11, 1942 and transport 61 from January 5, 1945 almost all had the extermination camp Auschwitz as their direct destination.
The Gedenktafel Deportation Plaque stands as a testament to resilience. It stands as a call to vigilance against hatred and discrimination. It urges us to remember the past and work towards a future. A future where such atrocities never happen again. Take a moment to reflect on the weight of history. Remember the individuals whose lives were tragically cut short. Consider the importance of preserving their memory.