This beautiful memorial was built to remember those who were persecuted and lost there lives for political, religious and racist reasons.
The monument is flanked by two figures, the one on the left symbolizes hope and points to a brighter future. A new beginning and learning from history. The second figure on the right mourns for the victims of the National Socialism. The forced laborers, the resistance fighters and the persecuted. Over the gate is carved “The Annihilated 1933-1945 The living ones I call- the dead I lament.”
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Once you enter the memorial you find another inscription “Soul does not forget it, the soul does not forget the dead”.
The Dorenkranz represents the crown of thorns upon Jesus’s head when He was crucified. The long pointed thorns stand as a reminder of how the National Socialists destroyed people, cultures, and religions bu war, condemnation, extermination camps, forced labor camps and by the Gestapo.
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As a crown of thorns pierces the head of the one who wears it, perhaps it points to the propaganda which influenced. Perhaps it represents punishment and consequences, even the crucifixion we see through a wreath of thorns.
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