Our Vision.
“Memory is like water: it is vital and seeks its own paths to new spaces and other people. It is always concrete: it has faces, places, smells and sounds.”
These words by Shoah survivor Eliasz Noach Flug (1925-2011) emphasise the central importance of places of remembrance and commemoration in our society: They form anchors that connect us to the lives of persecuted and murdered people. They create a space for mourning. And they inspire us to learn something for the present and the future.
In Dresden, the Alter Leipziger Bahnhof (Old Leipzig Railway Station) is one such place that creates a point of connection: as a departure station for deportation trains, it is associated with the last real memories of survivors of their families and friends.
The former reception hall as it was in March 2024:
The former train station, which will celebrate its 175th anniversary in 2024, is currently a listed ruin. The “Förderkreis Gedenk- und Begegnungsort Alter Leipziger Bahnhof” has set itself the goal of developing the station into a living centre of remembrance, of coming to terms with the crimes of National Socialism and of encountering Judaism in the past and present.
From the scene of a crime to a place of remembrance, learning and encounter
The Old Leipzig Railway Station is first and foremost a site of crimes and perpetrators. It was a central transport hub for the administration and implementation of the Shoah, and not just for Dresden. It had an important infrastructural significance for the National Socialist war economy, for which Dresden was an important location. The various complexes that manifest themselves at the Old Leipzig Railway Station – deportation and murder, forced labour, war economy and armaments industry, but also the important industrial and railway history before and after the Nazi era – are not easy to reconcile conceptually.
Taking remembrance seriously therefore means, first and foremost, focusing on the victims. The historical scene of the crime will thus become a place of remembrance dedicated to the murdered, the survivors and their descendants. With its mission to impart knowledge about the deportees and the Nazi era, the Old Leipzig Railway Station will also become a place of learning. In addition to permanent and special exhibitions, this requires educational concepts and formats that address young and old, groups and individual visitors.
As with all places of such specific character, the creation of a place of remembrance, education and encounter requires sensitivity to the architectural heritage and a high level of professionalism in the design and contextualisation of historical traces.
Our conceptual perspective also looks to the present and the future: at the historical scene of the crime and the future place of remembrance, it should also be possible for all people to encounter contemporary Jewish life in Dresden, which in its diversity reflects the currents that have shaped and continue to shape Judaism in Germany in the two phases of upheaval after 1945 and after 1990. In this way, the site also raises questions about the history of post-war migration and establishes practices of information, political and cultural education, for example through lectures, readings or performances by Jewish artists – it becomes a meeting place.
Want to know more about our vision? Click on the tiles here for more details:
We want to develop a place where Dresden’s urban society can honour the memory of National Socialism and commemorate the victims of the criminal events that took place here. This requires a dignified place where the victims can be remembered and mourned.
In addition, we want to achieve the establishment of a memorial that fulfils all the professional tasks associated with such an institution at the historical site: Such a memorial would research the lives of the persecuted and murdered Dresdeners in a special way and maintain a documentation centre on Dresden’s Nazi history. It would make its knowledge available to the city’s society in the form of permanent and temporary exhibitions and educational formats, both on site and digitally. It collects the material and written records and makes them available for general use.
Based on the historical site, it establishes outreach formats to make the urban space itself accessible. Concepts such as the ‘Gedenkareal Dresdner Norden’ initiated by the city of Dresden can thus be linked to the memorial. The memorial also carries out educational and preventive work against anti-Semitism, racism and anti-democratic developments in the present.
With the establishment of such a memorial centre, we also hope to support and consolidate the work of numerous associations and initiatives, which we would like to bring together in one place. For example, by bringing together different collections of books in a common library, or by setting up a common archive, which will offer initiatives and organisations the opportunity to preserve their collections professionally, and researchers, whether academics or school groups, an attractive place with workstations and rooms to go in search of clues themselves.
In addition to the Jewish communities, there are numerous other initiatives in Dresden’s cultural landscape that live Judaism and its traditions and culture or offer insights into them: The Jüdische Musik- und Theaterwoche Dresden e. V. (Jewish Music and Theatre Week) offers a varied program of concerts and events every year. The association HATiKVA – Educational and Meeting Center for Jewish History and Culture of Saxony e.V. has been doing important educational work for more than 30 years, to name just two examples. In connection and cooperation with the community, they make Jewish life and Jewish perspectives tangible. The community center in the old Leipzig train station gives them new opportunities to develop their work. It does not replace what already exists, but offers space for synergies and cooperation. In terms of diversity of use, existing and new initiatives will find here a spatial and infrastructural basis for their work, can offer a varied program in open event and workshop rooms, and thus open themselves up to an even larger audience.
In this way, the Alte Leipziger Bahnhof is embedded in the existing cultural landscape of Dresden. Filled with discussions, music, theater, literature, workshops, and the opportunity to learn about Jewish life, it will become a vibrant place and can be seen as a counter-design to the National Socialists’ will to extermination. The program of events respects the reverent framework that a memorial needs to offer opportunities for mourning.
As an industrial monument, the old Leipzig train station offers a glimpse into the beginnings of Saxony’s railway history. The city of Dresden has therefore expressed the desire to take these aspects of the site into account.
The challenge for the design of memorial sites lies in creating an appropriate framework for the visitor’s sense of place, one that offers space for feelings, accepts and absorbs dismay, and yet allows for constructive learning. Visitors, on the other hand, approach exhibitions that present cultural history in a very different way, without having to deal with overwhelming emotions: at best, they should be fun for many different generations. The topic therefore requires a consideration that should not be overshadowed by the needs of commemorating the victims of National Socialism in Dresden.
To solve this dilemma, we propose a spatial separation of the different educational tasks. This can be achieved by incorporating the former roundhouse, which is located next to the former station building. It should become the site of a separate exhibition on the history of transportation. The plan to use the roundhouse as a “secret garden” or to develop a “garden of remembrance”, as proposed in the urban planning competition for the development of the neighborhood, fits in very well: In an adapted implementation as a “garden of history(s)”, an environment could be created in terms of landscape planning that presents the history of the station as well as the significance of the development of the railroad in the area of conflict between industrialization, mobility, and the environment on a sufficiently large scale. The significance of the railroad infrastructure for the Nazi extermination policy should be addressed, but does not need to be explored in depth at this point, as the roundhouse had no significance for the deportations according to current knowledge.
Possible pillars of the future institution
Pillar 1: Memorial
/// NS Documentation Centre: archive, collection, research, clarification of fate
/// Permanent exhibition / temporary exhibition space
/// Inclusion of the historic railway tracks as a memorial site
/// Educational communication formats on site
Pillar 2: Meeting place
/// Reading café and library
/// Integrated exhibition units and media tables on current aspects of Jewish culture
/// Event and seminar rooms
/// cooperatively designed event programme
Pillar 3: Mobility Experience Space
/// Architectural design of the roundhouse as a starting point for developing the entire site
/// Interactive exhibition on railway history
/// Space for forward-looking questions about society and mobility
“I long to see the opening” – a timeline for realization
The challenge in the coming months and years will be to realize this vision. There are still many hurdles to overcome. To date (as of August 2024), the city of Dresden does not own the land on which the Alter Leipziger Bahnhof is located. This complicates building planning and delays the start of construction. In addition to the question of ownership, issues of financing, security and maintenance of the old building, the building application and approval process must be resolved before construction can begin. In addition to construction, it is necessary to determine how the new institution will be organized, who will be involved, and how it will be financed.
As you have already read on our homepage, Shoa survivor Renate Aris has urged us to hurry: “I long to see the ribbon cut at the opening of a memorial at this site. I will be 89 this August”, she said in her speech given at site on November 9, 2023. Time is pressing. In order to fulfill the wish of the last survivors of the Shoah in Saxony to experience the opening of a memorial and meeting place, we must take the necessary steps. It is possible to realize the project by the end of 2027, but it requires courage, will, money and, last but not least, a lot of moral support. Let’s do it.