It was with great sadness and sorrow that we learned of the death of Dr Nora Goldenbogen yesterday.
Dr Nora Goldenbogen was one of the most important advocates for a dignified place of remembrance at the Alter Leipziger Bahnhof and was a supporting member of our association. She accompanied the numerous discourses surrounding the establishment of a memorial at the former deportation station with expertise, commitment, wisdom and warmth. Her close personal connection to the Jewish history of Dresden, as well as her great expertise as a historian with a doctoral degree, were an important inspiration and support for all of us.
Nora’s strengths also included dealing with conflicts, tolerating differences of opinion and fighting for her convictions. She always weighed arguments, took her counterpart seriously and sought the middle ground. We will also miss this human quality very much.
Born in Dresden in 1949, the daughter of a Romanian Jewish mother and a German Communist father, Nora Goldenbogen had been actively involved in Jewish life in her hometown since the 1980s. As co-founder and long-standing managing director of Hatikva, she became a central mediator of Judaism in its culture, history and religion. She had been leader of the Jewish community since 2003, a position she held until 2020. From 2017 until her death, she was chair of the Saxon State Association of Jewish Communities.
She was particularly vocal and unyielding in her opposition to the resurgence of right-wing ideas, neo-Nazis and new right-wing movements. She spoke out against historical amnesia and revisionism like no other.
With Hatikva, she was already committed to making public the history of the Alter Leipziger Bahnhof during the Nazi era. Nevertheless, until a few years ago only a small minority in Dresden was aware that the first large deportation transport of Jews to Riga took place from this place in January 1942. Establishing a memorial at this site, where research, learning and remembrance can take place, was always one of her greatest wishes. Unfortunately, she will not live to see the inauguration.
Nora Goldenbogen leaves behind a wealth of knowledge, which can be found in numerous professional articles and books. Particularly noteworthy is the publication of the book ‘Once and Now. The History of the Dresden Synagogue and its Community’ on the occasion of the consecration of the new synagogue in 2001. Finally, her most personal work was published two years ago. In ‘Since I knew you were alive – Love in the darkest of times’ she describes the love story of her parents, who both survived the Holocaust separately from each other: her mother in Romania and her father in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and the subsequent death march.
With her, we have lost a great counsellor. We will endeavour to continue her work in her spirit.
With gratitude and in deep mourning
Der Förderkreis Alter Leipziger Bahnhof