Holocaust Memorials - Monuments, Museums and Institutions in Commemoration of Nazi Victims

in detail

The Lüneburg sanatorium opened in 1901 as an institute of the province of Hannover. In the fall of 1941 a so-called children’s special division of the Lüneburg state nursing home was established and existed until March 1945. The mentally and physically disabled children came from the Inner Mission Rotenburg W., the Johannistal/ Waldniel home and from other places in Lower Saxony. During World War II, in the “children’s division” over 400 children died, presumably over 300 of them were murdered. The Lüneburg state institute also served as the transit facility for the central killing facilities. In one of the first transports, in March 1941, 120 men were transferred from the state institute. For April 1941 there is evidence of three transports carrying 461 patients to Herborn from where they were brought to the Hadamar facility. From 1944 to 1947 the machine hall of the facility is used as an infirmary. By 1945 the deaths in the “children’s special division“ were given increased attention and recorded. Even the state attorneys office thoroughly investigated the conditions in the Lüneburg institute and established that “euthanasia“ killings took place. Finally in the 1960s three people were charged with criminal activity in the killing of children in the Lüneburg “children’s special division“. No one is indicted.

The first suggestion to create a memorials site on the grounds of the Lüneberg state hospital was made years ago. The hospital direction supported the plans and the idea was pursued by a work group of the state hospital. To associations were given responsibility to oversee the memorial: the Psychosoziale Verein Lüneburg e.V. and the Geschichtswerkstatt Lüneburg e.V. The educational memorial site opened on November 25, 2004. The general concept of the memorial site covers four central areas: a general presentation of the history of the Lüneburg sanatorium, the period of National Socialism, psychiatry today and the integration of each individual topic in a concept of political historical education aimed at different groups.