Beneath this very ground lie echoes of a dark past. We are standing before the Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Düsseldorf. It is a memorial and museum. It is dedicated to the victims of Nazi terror. This place serves as a cultural institution. It is a research site. It is an archive for the city of Düsseldorf.
The Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Düsseldorf opened in 1987. It stands in the west part of the historic Stadthaus in the Altstadt. After renovations, it reopened in May 2015. The main exhibit is “Düsseldorfer Children and Youths in the Time of National Socialism”.
Once, this building housed offices and interrogation rooms. It even had Gestapo cells. From 1926 to early 1934, it was the police headquarters. In 1933, the State Police headquarters was here. Later, the SS occupied the building. City offices were here too. These offices helped persecute Jews, Sinti, Roma, and homosexuals. They organized forced labor. About 40,000 forced laborers worked in Düsseldorf. During the war, the cellars were public air raid shelters. You can still visit them today.
After World War II, people proposed a memorial. But a central monument was not erected until 1958. It is in the Nordfriedhof. The Majdanek trials took place in Düsseldorf from 1975 to 1981. They sparked renewed calls for a central memorial. Youth groups, churches, and Jewish groups supported it. The Sinti and Roma association and victims of the Nazi regime also joined. Finally, in 1986, all parties agreed. The Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Düsseldorf opened in 1987.
The Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Düsseldorf collects testimonies from witnesses. It documents the Nazi era in Düsseldorf. It has extensive archives. It has a library with over 8,000 books. From 1986 to 2011, the main exhibit was “Persecution and Resistance in Düsseldorf 1933–1945”. This exhibit covered churches, Jehovah’s Witnesses, political parties, and artists. It also showed euthanasia and the persecution of Sinti and Roma. A room honored the murdered Jews of Düsseldorf. In 2011, the exhibit was dismantled. Since 2009, the archives have been in Haus Mühlenstraße 6.
Between 2011 and 2015, the Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Düsseldorf was redesigned. A new hall connects all parts of the memorial. It has triple the space. Lord Mayor Thomas Geisel reopened it on May 14, 2015. The new exhibit explores how young people behaved during Nazism. It asks what their daily lives were like. It questions what became of them. A new section examines Nazism’s aftermath in Düsseldorf. The “Julo-Levin-Raum” hosts events and exhibits. There is also an open archive and library. The air raid shelter is still open. The Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Düsseldorf is accessible. It has multimedia resources and an audio guide in English.
Since April 2024, the Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Düsseldorf has a new event space. It is the Beatrice-Strauss-Zentrum. It hosts educational programs. It is dedicated to Dr. Beatrice Strauss. She taught at a Jewish school and was deported to Minsk in 1941.
The Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Düsseldorf organizes memorial events. It initiated the “Path of Liberation” project. It also oversees a memorial at the former Derendorf freight depot. This marks the deportation of Rhineland Jews between 1941 and 1945. The Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Düsseldorf supports many memorial sites in Düsseldorf. It hosts events, exhibits, school projects, tours, and city walks. About 30,000 people visit each year.
The Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Düsseldorf stands as a reminder. It urges us to remember. It calls on us to learn from the past. It is a place of reflection. It is a place of warning. It is a place of hope.