Obj. ID: 49571 Platform 17 (Grunewald Deportation Site) Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, Germany, 1987, 1998
Memorial Name
Gleis (Platform) 17 Memorial – Berlin Grunewald
Who is Commemorated?
Jews who were deported from Berlin to the ghettos of Theresienstadt, Minsk, Riga, Kaunas, and Łódź, to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Description:
The monument consists of the reconstructed train platform on which Jews were gathered and from which they were loaded onto transport trains. The edges of the platforms are lined with 186 cast steel sections, referring to the number of transports that left Berlin. Inscribed on these are the dates of the transport, the number of deportees, and the train's destination. These are arranged in chronological order. Vegetation that has developed around Platform 17 has been left to grow between the rails and now forms an intentional part of the memorial. Ti the right of the entrance to the train station is a rough concrete wall set with hollow impressions of humans, to signify the forced marches that took place to this station.
Inscriptions
1987 bronze plaque on the platform by the signal building:
Hebrew
[To be photographed and transcribed]
German
ZUM GEDENKEN AN ZEHNTAUSENDE JÜDISCHE
BÜRGER BERLINS, DIE AB OKTOBER 1941
BIS FEBRUAR 1945 VON HIER AUS DURCH
DIE NAZI-HENKER IN DIE TODESLAGER
DEPORTIERT UND ERMORDET WURDEN.
translation: In memory of the tens of thousands of Jewish citizens of Berlin, who were deported by the Nazis between October 1941 and February 1945 from here to death camps and murdered.
Around the track platform are inscriptions with the dates of the transport, the number of deportees, and the train's destination.
[To be photographed and transcribed]
On a placard affixed to the wall near the entrance to the monument (German):
GLEIS 17
Zum Gedenken an die 1941-1945
Durch Züge der Deutschen Reichsbahn
In die Todeslager Deportierten
27. Januar 1998
Errichtet durch die Deutsche Bahn AG
Translation: PLATFORM 17 / Commemorating the 1941-1945 Deutsche Reichsbahn deportations to the death camps via train / January 27, 1998 / Built by Deutsche Bahn AG
On a bronze plaque affixed to the platform (German):
Zum Gedenken an die
mehr als 50,000 Juden Berlins,
die zwischen Oktober 1941 und
Februar 1945 vorwiegend
vom Güterbahnof Grunewald aus
durch den nationalsozialistischen
Staat in seine
Vernichtungslager deportiert
und ermordent wurden.
Zur Mahnung an uns,
jeder Miẞachtung des Lebens
und der Würde des Menschen
mutig und ohne Zögern
entgegenzutreten.
Translation: In memory of more than 50 000 Jews of Berlin that, between October 1941 and February 1945, were deported, mostly from the railway station Güterbahnof Grunewald, by the National Socialist state to its death camps and were murdered. // As a reminder to us to oppose any disregard towards life and human honor courageously and without any hesitation.
Commissioned by
Deutsche Bahn
brick
gravel
steel
The Gleis 17 Memorial commemorates the multiple deportations of Jews by the Deutsche Reichsbahn between 1941 and 1945 from the Grunewald S-Bahn station, located on the western outskirts of Berlin.
The memorial was built on the initiative by the Deutsche Bahn, the German national railway company, to commemorate the deportations undertaken by its predecessor, the Deutsche Reichsbahnof over 50,000 Jews, most of whom died by murder, starvation, disease, or overwork after their deportation from Berlin. Many of the transports were destined for the ghettos in Theresienstadt, Minsk, Riga, Kaunas, and Łódź. From July 1942 on, several transports of Berlin Jews went directly to Auschwitz-Birkenau and other death camps. About 500 Jews from cities and communities in the vicinity of the capital were also deported from Berlin.
A bronze commemorative plaque in Hebrew and German was installed on 3 April 1987 near the former signal building, There is a brief Hebrew memorial inscription, followed by a commemorative text in German (see below for complete text).
At the end of the 1980s, the state of Berlin initiated a competition for a concept of a monument to the Grunewald deportations. The winning design was by Polish artist Karol Broniatowski. The monument – an 18-meter concrete block with embedded silhouettes of deportees – was unveiled at the site in 1991 [N.B. this will be a separate entry] Subsequently, during public discussions about the role of the Deutsche Reichsbahn during the National Socialist (Nazi) period, the board of the Deutsche Bahn decided to erect a central memorial.
A competition was held amongst a limited number of entrants. The members of the jury were Ignatz Bubis, Chairman of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Heinz Dürr, Chairman of the Board of Deutsche Bahn AG, Prof. Gottmann, Director of the Museum of Transport and Technology, Jerzy Kanal, Chairman of the Jewish Community in Berlin, and Dr. Salomon Korn, architect in Frankfurt am Main. The jury voted for the design submitted by the team of architects Lorch and Wandel Hirsch, in Saarbrücken and Frankfurt am Main.
A footpath was created around Platform 17 that required securing the dilapidated platform walls and reconstructing the approximately 160-meter-long platform, which had been demolished. The memorial was inaugurated on 27 January 1998 and is closely linked with the earlier monument designed by Broniatowski and erected by the Federal Land of Berlin in 1991, which deals with the journey leading up to the deportees' arrival on the platform.
For further details, see
"Gedenkstätten am Bahnhof Grunewald" Berlin.de, https://www.berlin.de/ba-charlottenburg-wilmersdorf/ueber-den-bezirk/geschichte/gedenkstaetten/artikel.1137369.php (accessed May 24, 2023)
Lee, Henry. “Berlin Grunewald: no train will ever leave track 17 again,”, https://fotoeins.com/2016/02/01/berlin-grunewald-mahnmal-gleis17-track17-memorial/ (accessed May 17, 2023)
“Gleis 17 Memorial – Berlin Grunewald,” Information Portal to European Sites of Remembrance, https://www.memorialmuseums.org/eng/staettens/view/338/Mahnmal-Gleis-17-%E2%80%93--Berlin-Grunewald (accessed May 17, 2023)
“The Track 17 memorial at Grunewald railway station,” Deutschebahn website, https://www.deutschebahn.com/en/group/history/topics/platform17_memorial-6929106 (accessed May 17, 2023)