in detail
The "Under the Oak Trees" Memorial Museum was erected at the site where a satellite camp of the "SS Special Camp/Hinzert Concentration Camp" had stood from March 1944 to March 1945. Prisoners, for the most part from Luxembourg, who were apprehended for involvement in resistance activities, were ordered to join the Wiesbaden labor force. The memorial is primarily dedicated to their memory.
The air-raid shelter, which the prisoners had to build for the SS guards and from which they were barred during bomb attacks, was selected as the site of the memorial museum. On December 18, 1944, six Luxembourg prisoners were killed during an Allied bomb attack. After the war, the former camp grounds were acquired by the Taunus Film Company and used as a film depot
In 1974, a few former prisoners of the Wiesbaden satellite camp of the Hinzert SS Special Camp visited the Hesse state capital. Inspired by this visit, the local Wiesbaden historian, Lothar Bembenek, began to research the history of the satellite camp and to establish furhter contact with Luxembourg.
On October 5, 1987, the municipal government of the city of Wiesbaden approved the proposal by the Culture Office to provide funds by 1988 for the establishment of the memorial "Under the Oak Trees". In September 1988, the board of directors of the Wiesbaden Historical Workshop announced its interest in producing a permanent exhibition for the memorial. The exhibition presents the history of the site, National Socialism and the SS in the area, the story of National Socialist concentration camp system and the particular story of the camp "Under the Oak Trees".
The historian Bärbel Maul and the graphic artist Titus Grab, both of Mainz, are responsible for the conception and realiziation.
March 1944-1945
Prisoners, mostly from Luxembourg, are imprisoned at the satellite camp of the Hinzert SS Special Camp.
December 18, 1944
Six Luxembourg prisoners die during an Allied bomb attack.
After 1945
The area is used by the Taunus Film Company.
October 6, 1987
The municipal government of the city of Wiesbaden approves the financing and establishment of a memorial.
1991
The memorial museum opens with a permanent exhibition.
