in detail
Two posters from 1942 warn people with contagious diseases not to enter the bunker. Today’s cashiers’ room was originally a gas sluice, which was supposed to protect the actual bunker against gas attacks with two airtight lockable steel doors. People who came in contact to gas were to be washed in the shower.
The exhibition begins with the first known Jewish families known to have permanently settled in the region in the 19th century. Occasional reports on Jewish presence go back as far as 1252 and are documented in the first room. Visitors will also find evidence of anti-Jewish discrimination (yellow patch – hat – Star of David) throughout the centuries and they can read a text of the antisemitic court preacher, Adolf Stoecker, who represented the local constituency for almost 20 years.
During opening hours, the museum shows a video film with photos of Jewish citizens from the region. The museum would like to receive more photos of this kind. If anyone is in possession of such photos, the museum would be interested in borrowing them so that they could be added to the film. A list of the pictures included in the film is available from the cashier. The museum hopes to one day be able to show a photo of every person who once belonged to the community.
A “bunker suitcase” recalls the function of the building during the war. It shows important objects that people took with them into the bunker during air raids: Family jewelry, identification, eating utensils, books, etc.
On six sliding walls there are documents on the history of local Jewry and National Socialism in this century. The walls are divided into the following subjects:
The Reichstag election results of the city and district of Siegen; results of the Reich President election
The boycott of April 1, 1933
Documents on the most well-known Jewish families of the area : Frank and Hermann
Start of the disenfranchisement and aryanization, 1933-1939
The November Pogrom in Siegen (November 10, 1938)
Emigration – Deportation – Suicide
On large panels, the history of other former Jewish communities in the Siegen-Wittgenstein district are documented, such as in Hilchengbach, Bad Laasphe and in Bad Berleburg, where Jews resided continually for almost 300 years.
Other victim groups of the National Socialist terror system which were persecuted and killed, so called “gypsies,” handicapped, Jehovah’s Witnesses and communists, are also represented in the exhibition by local examples. The life of the Siegen Prussian parliament representative, Walter Krämer (1892-1941), is a typical example: In 2000, he was posthumously added to the list of “righteous among the nations,” the highest award of the state of Israel.
The museum covers an entire floor of the air raid bunker (c. 200 sq. m.).
On the first floor of the former air raid bunker of the city of Siegen, there is a museum about Jewish life in the region, antisemitism and the Nazi persecution, as well as about other Nazi-persecuted groups. Educational materials and programs accompany the exhibit.
