In 1998, a monument was dedicated in Bielefeld, located in East Westphalia, in memory of the several thousands of Jews from Bielefeld and vicinity who were deported to concentration and extermination camps from 1941 on.
Bielefeld lies in the region of East Westphalia (German: Ostwestfalen), just north of the Teutoburg Forest. Jews settled in Bielefeld already in the 14th century. The Jewish community expanded significantly in the 19th century, although it remained numerically rather small. In 1933, there were about 800 Jews in Bielefeld, which had a total population of about 121,000.
After their rise to power, the National Socialists began to systematically discriminate against the Jews and exclude them from society. Jews were mobbed out of their professions, many were forced to shut down their businesses. Only about 80 of the more than 150 Jewish shops and businesses in Bielefeld were still open in the summer of 1938. They became the target of the National Socialists during the »Kristallnacht« in November 1938. On November 12, the National Socialists deported 406 Jews – of whom 40 to 50 came from Bielefeld – from the Bielefeld main station to the Buchenwald concentration camp. While they were released a few weeks later, many Bielefeld Jews decided to emigrate in the aftermath; the last four Jewish businesses were »aryanized« in 1939. In 1941, the National Socialists began deporting Jews from the German Reich to ghettos and extermination camps in the occupied East. The first deportation from Bielefeld took place on December 13, 1941: Jewish families from Bielefeld and what are today the counties of Ostwestfalen-Lippe and Schaumburg-Lippe were forced to board trains already packed with Jews from Münster and Westfalen. About 420 Jews from the area of Bielefeld were deported on that day. In total, deportation trains bound for ghettos and camps stopped at the Bielefeld main station nine times between 1941 and 1945, picking up Jews from the town and surrounding areas.
After their rise to power, the National Socialists began to systematically discriminate against the Jews and exclude them from society. Jews were mobbed out of their professions, many were forced to shut down their businesses. Only about 80 of the more than 150 Jewish shops and businesses in Bielefeld were still open in the summer of 1938. They became the target of the National Socialists during the »Kristallnacht« in November 1938. On November 12, the National Socialists deported 406 Jews – of whom 40 to 50 came from Bielefeld – from the Bielefeld main station to the Buchenwald concentration camp. While they were released a few weeks later, many Bielefeld Jews decided to emigrate in the aftermath; the last four Jewish businesses were »aryanized« in 1939. In 1941, the National Socialists began deporting Jews from the German Reich to ghettos and extermination camps in the occupied East. The first deportation from Bielefeld took place on December 13, 1941: Jewish families from Bielefeld and what are today the counties of Ostwestfalen-Lippe and Schaumburg-Lippe were forced to board trains already packed with Jews from Münster and Westfalen. About 420 Jews from the area of Bielefeld were deported on that day. In total, deportation trains bound for ghettos and camps stopped at the Bielefeld main station nine times between 1941 and 1945, picking up Jews from the town and surrounding areas.
About 420 Jews were deported from Bielefeld. Only a few more than 60 survived the persecution, deportation and mass murder carried out by the National Socialists. A total of 1,840 Jewish men, women and children were deported from the whole region, from Minden county, from Lippe and from Schaumburg-Lippe.
The memorial entitled »Each Murdered Person has a Name« was dedicated on the square in front of the Bielefeld main station on August 16, 1998. The peace group of the Altstadt church community had initiated the creation of the memorial in 1996, and the project was consequently implemented with the help of volunteer work and donations. Architect Hartmut Falkenberg designed the memorial on a honorary basis: Engraved on two stylized metal lecterns are the names of 1,840 Jews from Bielefeld, the Minden district, from Lippe and from Schaumburg-Lippe. They were all deported from the Bielefeld train station. A further inscription contains Psalm 78.6 in Hebrew and in German: »So the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children.«
- Name
- Mahnmal Bielefeld
- Address
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Bahnhofsplatz
33602 Bielefeld - Open
- The memorial is accessible at all times.