Summary of Holocaust Memorials in Germany
Germany has dedicated itself to never forgetting the Holocaust. There are Holocaust monuments, museums, and concentration camp memorials that educate the public and honor the millions of victims.
Many visitors to Europe feel compelled to visit these sites, as the Holocaust is one of the most significant events of the 20th century. However, it is essential to understand that memorial sites offer an unflinching look at what happened here, and therefore, visitors should be respectful when visiting Holocaust memorials in Germany.
For a complete listing of all European Holocaust Memorials, including the infamous site in Poland known as Auschwitz, it is recommended to visit the Information Portal to European Sites of Remembrance.
Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
Address: Cora-Berliner-Straße 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Phone: +49 30 2639430
It is impossible to miss Berlin’s Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Almost 5 acres between Brandenburg Gate and Potsdamer Platz are covered in the “Field of Stelae”, which consists of more than 2,500 geometrically arranged concrete pillars.
Following a contentious competition to decide the winner, architect Peter Eisenmann’s design began to take shape. This site allows visitors to enter from all four sides and walk through the unevenly sloping field, creating a disorienting feeling as you become enveloped by the towering columns. Additionally, the adjacent underground museum holds personal touches such as the names of all known Jewish Holocaust victims and selected stories of their journey.
Just across the street lies the small Memorial to Homosexuals Persecuted Under Nazism, and further towards the Reichstag is the newly opened Memorial to the Sinti and Roma Victims of National Socialism. Much less conspicuous, you can also find the placard marking where Hitler’s Bunker once stood nearby.
Stolpersteine
Address: Rosenthaler Str. 39, 10178 Berlin, Germany
Visitors might not notice these memorials while walking around German cities. Stolpersteine literally translates to “stumbling stone,” and they are often overlooked as they are embedded within the cobblestones.
This tribute, created by German artist Gunter Demnig, consists of subtle brass plaques located at the entrances of many buildings. They commemorate the individual victims of the Holocaust, providing their names, dates of birth, and a brief recounting of their fates. The plaques typically state “Hier wohnte” (here lived) and conclude with “ermordet” (murdered), alongside infamous locations such as Auschwitz and Dachau.
Dachau Concentration Camp
Address: Pater-Roth-Straße 2A, 85221 Dachau, Germany
Phone: +49 8131 669970
The Dachau concentration camp, located 10 miles northwest of Munich, was one of the first concentration camps established in Nazi Germany and subsequently served as a model for all others in the Third Reich.
Visitors to the memorial site follow the “path of the prisoner,” traversing the same routes that prisoners were forced to take upon their arrival at the camp. The site features original baths, barracks, courtyards, and the crematorium, in addition to extensive exhibitions and multiple memorials.
Concentration Camp Sachsenhausen
Address: Str. d. Nationen 22, 16515 Oranienburg, Germany
Phone: +49 3301 200200
Located approximately 30 minutes north of Berlin, the Sachsenhausen memorial site was established as a concentration camp in Oranienburg in 1936, where more than 200,000 people were imprisoned by the Nazis.
Sachsenhausen was one of the most significant concentration camps in the Third Reich. It was the first camp established under Heinrich Himmler, and its layout served as a model for nearly all concentration camps across Germany.
After the camp was liberated on April 22, 1945, the Soviets utilized the site as an internment camp for political prisoners until 1950. In 1956, plans commenced to convert the camp into a national memorial, which opened on April 23, 1961, and is now publicly accessible as a museum and memorial.
The Jewish Museum in Berlin
Address: Str. d. Nationen 22, 16515 Oranienburg, Germany
Phone: +49 3301 200200
The Jewish Museum in Berlin encompasses the vast scope of the Jewish experience, chronicling Jewish life in Germany from Roman times to the present.
The striking architecture designed by Daniel Libeskind conveys the emotions felt by those who were exiled and suffered loss. The museum’s shape bears a resemblance to a shattered Star of David, featuring irregularly shaped windows embedded in the steel-clad facade, extending voids that reach the building’s full height. The Holocaust Tower and the “Fallen Leaves” art installation provide another profound and unique experience.
Concentration Camp Buchenwald
Address: 99427 Weimar, Germany
Phone: +49 3643 430200
More than 250,000 people from 50 nations were imprisoned in the former Buchenwald camp, located near the city of Weimar.
The memorial site features various exhibitions and allows visitors to explore the former grounds of the camp, including the gatehouse, detention cells, watchtowers, crematorium, disinfection center, railway station, SS quarters, quarry, and graveyards. Walking routes throughout the extensive site also trace the paths once taken by guards.
Concentration Camp Bergen-Belsen
Address: Anne-Frank-Platz, 29303 Lohheide, Germany
Phone: +49 5051 4759200
Bergen-Belsen in Lower Saxony has become an international symbol for the horrors of the Holocaust. Anne Frank, a famous Jewish author, was imprisoned in this camp and tragically died of Typhus in March of 1945.
Presently, the site of the former concentration camp serves as a cemetery, marked by various sculptures that honor those who suffered and lost their lives here. Additionally, there is a Documentation Center, which houses extensive documents, photographs, and films that delve into the history of the camp.
Neuengamme Concentration Camp
Address: Neuengammer Hausdeich Brücke, 21039 Hamburg, Germany
The Neuengamme concentration camp, situated in a former brick factory on the outskirts of Hamburg, was the largest camp in the north of Germany, comprising 80 satellite camps between 1938 and 1945.
In May 2005, on the 60th anniversary of the camp’s liberation, a newly redesigned memorial site was inaugurated. It includes multiple exhibitions documenting the site’s history while honoring the memory of over 100,000 individuals imprisoned here. The site preserves fifteen historic concentration camp buildings.
House of the Wannsee Conference
Address: Am Großen Wannsee 56-58, 14109 Berlin, Germany
Phone: +49 30 217998600
Visitors can stand in the very room where the Endlösung or “Final Solution” was meticulously planned. Now a memorial site, the House of the Wannsee Conference is an essential historical stop for anyone retracing the steps taken toward the mass genocide of approximately 11 million people.
Concentration Camp Flossenbürg
Address: Gedächtnisallee 5, 92696 Flossenbürg, Germany
Phone: +49 9603 903900
The concentration camp Flossenbürg, built in 1938, is located in the Upper Palatinate region of Bavaria. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, an influential German pastor and theologian, was imprisoned here and died merely 23 days before Flossenbürg was liberated in April 1945.
The Memorial offers guided tours in English, which cover parts of the historic exhibition entitled “Flossenbürg Concentration Camp, 1938-1945.”
