Obj. ID: 58467
Memorials Holocaust Memorial plaque at the Kreuzkirche in Dresden, Germany
Name of Monument
No official name
What/Who is commemorated?
Christian complacency in the face of oppression of Germany’s Jewish citizens
Description
The rectangular bronze plaque at the Kreuzkirche (Church of the Holy Cross) is set to the right of the door to the tower which is used as the main entrance to the church. The text of the plaque, with raised letters and the image of a menorah addresses the persecution of Dresden’s Jews within the broader context of the Shoah.
Inscriptions
On the plaque, in German:
IN SCHAM UND TRAUER
GEDENKEN CHRISTEN
DER JÜDISCHEN BÜRGER DIESER STADT.
1933 LEBTEN IN DRESDEN 4675 JUDEN.
1945 WAREN ES 70.
WIR SCHWIEGEN,
ALS IHRE GOTTESHÄUSER
VERBRANNT, ALS JUDEN
ENTRECHTET, VERTRIEBEN
UND ERMORDET WURDEN.
WIR ERKANNTEN IN IHNEN
UNSERE BRÜDER
UND SCHWESTERN NICHT.
WIR BITTEN
UM VERGEBUNG UND SCHALOM
NOVEMBER 1988
Translation: In shame and sorrow, Christians remember the Jewish citizens of this city. In 1933, 4,675 Jews lived in Dresden; by 1945, there were only 70. We remained silent when their houses of worship were burned, when Jews were disenfranchised, expelled, and murdered. We did not recognize them as our brothers and sisters. We ask for forgiveness and Shalom. November 1988
Commissioned by
Gesellschaft für Christlich-Jüdische Zusammenarbeit Dresden e.V.
(Christian-Jewish working group "Encounter with Judaism.")
sub-set tree: 
The plaque, designed by graphic artist Karl-Heinz Lötzsch and fabricated by Martin Hänisch,
was created on the initiative of the Christian-Jewish working group "Encounter with Judaism." It is a rare memorial that represents the explicit Christian acknowledgment of guilt and the shame at the expulsion, deportation, and murder of German Jews, specifically those Jewish residents of Dresden who were exiled or deported between 1933 and 1945. The plaque is evidence of the renewed intensity of Christian-Jewish dialogue and the civil society culture of remembrance in the 1980s. Every January on International Holocaust Remembrance Day the names of members of the Dresden’s Jewish who were victims of the Holocaust are read aloud.
Eschwege, Helmut, “The Churches and the Jews in the German Democratic Republic,” The Leo Baeck Institute Year Book, 37:1, January 1992., pp. 497–513., https://doi.org/10.1093/leobaeck/37.1.497 (accessed February 25, 2026)
Gesellschaft für Christlich-Jüdische Zusammenarbeit Dresden e.V. webpage, https://www.cj-dresden.de/chronik-1982-2011/ (accessed February 25, 2026)
“Steinernes Gedenken (1): Eine Gedenkstele in Dresden,” Bruchstücke: Die Novemberpogrome in Sachsen 1938 – ein Forschungsprojekt (May 4, 2018)., http://bruchstuecke1938.de/steinernes-gedenken-1-eine-gedenkstele-in-dresden/ (accessed November 25, 2025)