Img. ID: 403317
Who is commemorated?
Jewish forced laborers in Braunschweig
Description
The memorial plaque embedded in the elongated lawn, surrounded by bushes, commemorates 80 victims of National Socialist tyranny, of whom only 69 are known by name.
Inscriptions
The plaque is inscribed in German and Hebrew.
In German:
Weil sie Juden waren,
wurden sie
aus ihrer Heimat
verschleppt, um für
ein unmenschliches
System zu arbeiten
und zu sterben (1944/45).
Translation: Because they were Jews, they were deported from their homes to work and die for an inhuman system (1944/945).
The Hebrew inscription cites the hymn (piyyut) Yigdal that mentions the resurrection of the dead:
מתים יהיה אל ברב חסדו
Translation: God will the dead to life restore [tr. by Alice Lukas]
Commissioned by
Possibly the City of Braunschweig
During World War II, Büssing Company compensated increasing shortage of labor by sending recruiting prisoners from the Auschwitz concentration camp for forced labor. The first transport arrived in September 1944, followed by two more. The prisoners worked in the Braunschweig and Vechelde plant sections and lived in concentration (sub)camps in Braunschweig (Schillstrasse) and in the former Vechelde jute spinning mill.
In 1944-1945, the city used to scatter the ashes of Jews who perished through forced labor in the concentration subcamps Schillstraße, Jutespinnerei, and SS-Reitschule between today's "Cemetery of Honor 1939-1945 II" and the remaining Jewish cemetery.