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

in detail

The Villa ten Hompel had originally been built as a private residential house by Rudolf ten Hompel, a wealthy owner of several cement factories in the region surrounding Münster, in the 1920s. Since that time, the villa has witnessed an eventful history: During the Second World War, the villa was used as the domicile of the regional uniformed police forces of the army section VI and therefore became the point of origin of national socialistic injustice committed by desk-bound perpetrators and armed police forces. In the postwar period, the villa sheltered the regional department of indemnification between 1954 and 1968.

 

Since 1999, it houses a research, education and pedagogical center as well as a permanent exhibition and is open to the public.

 

Permanent Exhibition "History - Violence - Conscience"

 

Based on the eventful history of the “Villa ten Hompel”, the new exhibition focuses on the massive scale of the involvement of uniformed police in the Second World War and the genocide against Jews and other groups, the denazification, but also continuities after 1945 as well as the prosecution of the crimes of the Nazis and the bureaucratic attempt at a "compensation" to formerly persecuted.

 

In essence, the visitors in the “Villa” are invited to debate how to deal with history in order to ponder about present and future challenges.

nd of the 1930s
The 1928 villa of the cement manufacturer and Reichstag representative Rudolf ten Hompel falls into the hands of the Staatskasse

1940-1945
Headquarters of the commander of the order police for military district VI

After the war
Headquarters of various police departments and from 1953-1968 of the office of restitution

December 13, 1999
The house opens as an educational and historical site with a permanent exhibition