Memorial
and Place of Remembrance
Note: The
photos have not yet been released for the Internet under copyright law! On October 11,
1967, former prisoners, representatives of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany
(SED), the City Council of Falkensee and soldiers of the National People's Army
(NVA) inaugurated the memorial. Source: U. Wolter,
Archive Museum Falkensee
In April 1965, 20
years after the liberation of the concentration camp, former French prisoners
visited Falkensee. At the place of
their suffering they donated a commemorative plaque as a reminder. A replica of
this plaque received a worthy place on the memorial designed by the Dresden
sculptor Karl Schönherr, which was inaugurated in 1967 on the former site of
the camp in the presence of many former prisoners and numerous Falkensee
citizens. On four bronze
plaques, the artist recorded the gruesome everyday life in the camp and showed
the arrival of the Red Army in April 1945. Rallies and wreath-laying took place
here every year on the day of the liberation of the camp until 1989. After
that, the place lost its public interest, unknown persons desecrated the
memorial in 1992. A year later, the
city of Falkensee began to develop the site of the former concentration camp as
a park, to create paths and to uncover the structural remains and traces of the
camp. The historical park was inaugurated on April 25, 1995 by former prisoners
from eight European countries together with the town of Falkensee. In addition
to the French plaque, since 2005 there has also been a plaque commemorating the
Norwegian prisoners. After all four
bronze relief panels of the memorial were stolen in 2012, the Falkensee
sculptor Ingo Wellmann reinterpreted the panels from sandstone.
Two years before
the inauguration of the memorial, former French prisoners had erected a
commemorative plaque on the edge of the former subcamp with the following
inscription: "Oranienburg - Sachsenhausen. In memory of the deported
French from the Staaken - Falkensee commando. Died for the peace and
independence of their fatherland, victims of National Socialist
barbarism". Source:
Photographer unknown, Archive Museum Falkensee Numerous
commemorative rallies took place at the memorial site. Here is a rally that
took place on September 8, 1968 in the presence of members of the SED unity
party, the NVA and young pioneers of the state youth organization of the GDR.
Montage of two photographs by Gerhard Zimmermann (then museum director
Falkensee). Source: Ulrich
Zielke, Archive Museum Falkensee International
exchange: Commemoration with schoolchildren from Oslo and Falkensee in
September 2017. Shortly before that, the French bronze memorial plaque was
stolen, while the Norwegian one secured the city in the museum. In the
meantime, both bronze tablets have been replaced by stone slabs. Source: Archive
Museum Falkensee
