Hannover (plaque, Altwarmbüchener-Moorwaldweg)
Historical background
Until the mid-twentieth century the Altwarmbüchener Moor was considered unfriendly and inaccessible wasteland. However, from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, peat was extracted from this area northeast of Hannover, where several villages were located. Initially peat was collected for the needs of the poorer inhabitants, but later it was also extracted for sale. In the 18th century, special guards were even appointed to protect the local resources against peat thieves. Peat was transported to Hannover by road and a specially dug water channel.
In 1938, a camp for German Gypsies was created in the Altwarmbüchen swamps. About 80 Sinti from Hannover were placed in several railway carriages without access to any media. Because they had resisted deportation from the city, they were deported as far as possible inside the Altwarmbüchen swamps.
At the end of the 20th century, the Altwarmbüchen Moor was divided by two threads of a motorway. In 1996, the Association of German Sinti of Lower Saxony erected a memorial commemorating the deportation in 1943 of a group of eighty-eight Sinti from the Altwarmbüchener Moor to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp. The memorial was placed by the Moorwaldweg road, parallel to one of the motorways (No. 2).
Description of commemoration
The memorial, placed at the edge of shrubbery, resembles wooden gates with the side posts (see also: BORZĘCIN – FOREST) The stylisation of the upper beam is analogous to the inscription above the entrance gates to KL Auschwitz. The bending of the beam is so characteristic that even a completely different design of the rest of the “gates” does not allow us to doubt that it is a symbol of the Auschwitz Gates. The gates-memorial is primarily made of wood, unlike the steel gates to the extermination camp. It is also distinguished by a vertical beam separating two “passages” in the memorial. Thanks to this form, the author of the memorial created a coherent entity with plenty of space for inscriptions. What is more, due to the fact that imitations were used (panels are permanently installed and do not open) to for the two passages (“there” and “back”), we can read the monument not only as “gates”, but also as a “window” (with shutters ). While the gates and doors symbolise “passage”, the “window” means a wider look, also a look inside yourself.
The monument is symmetrically filled with inscriptions: from symbols, to full texts, to names.
The symbols appear four times. On both outer posts of the gates, there is the symbol of a black triangle with the letter “Z” as „Zigeuner”, which was used as a sign assigned to the Gypsies as part of the camp marking. The symbol is repeated three times. In iconography, this sign was presented in various ways, with the inverted black triangle with the bright letter “Z” being as close to the truth as possible. In case of the memorial on the Moor, the symbol is a triangle with the base at the bottom (i.e. the opposite of the camp emblem), with a black outline and with the black letter “Z”. It seems difficult to properly interpret the intentions of the author of the monument.
Another symbol, the one that appears at the top of the right-hand outer post, is not repeated anywhere else on the memorial. Associated mainly with Protestantism, although we has also find the symbol of fish in the youth movements of Catholicism (Greek ΙΧΘΥΣ = acronym: Ἰησοῦς ([Iēsoûs] – ‘Jesus’), Χριστὸς ([Christós] – ‘Christ’), Θεοῦ ([Theoû] – ‘Boga’), Υἱὸς ([Hyiós] – ‘Son’, Σωτήρ ([Sōtér] – ‘Saviour’). Above and below the sign there is an inscription in German: ‘Jesus siegt’ (‘Jesus is victorious’).
Inscriptions are only in German.
The memorial was unveiled on March 3, 1998, on the anniversary of the deportation of Gypsies from the Moor camp. Three months later, during Pentecost, it was devastated by radical-right hooligans. After its repair and renewal, it was unveiled again on September 19, 1998. See also: Borzęcin – forest!
Inscriptions
- The inscription above the gate.
Text in German:
Das Tor von Auschwitz war der Eingang zur Hölle.
Translation:
The Gates of Auschwitz were the entrance to hell.
- The left side post
Text in German:
HERR SIE ZERSCHLAGEN DEIN VOLK UND PLAGEN DEIN ERBE. PS 94, 5-8.
Translation:
They crush your people, O Lord, and afflict your heritage (…)* // Ps 94, 5-8.
- The right side post
Text in German:
MERKT DOCH AUF, IHR NARREN IM VOLK! UND IHR TOREN WANN WOLLT IHR KLUG WERDEN!
Translation: (The Bible – English Standard Version, Ps 94, 8)
Understand, O dullest of the people! Fools, when will you be wise?
* The complete Psalm 94, from which the quotation is taken: ”They crush your people, O Lord,
and afflict your heritage. They kill the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless; and they say, “The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive.” Understand, O dullest of the people! Fools, when will you be wise? Ps 94, 5-8, The Bible – English Standard Version
- Names on the inside panels, with the inscription below:
Text in German:
Am 3.3.1943 wurden ca. 80 Sinti (Zigeuner) von dieser Stelle nach Auschwitz deportiert
Translation:
On March 3, 1943 approx. 80 Sinti (Gypsies) were deported to Auschwitz from this place.
Names
Fahrenholz Karoline, nee Mettbach, born 23.01.18??
Jorkau-Trollman Marie, born 16.05.1913
Kreutz Christian, born 4.03.1915
Mettbach Adam, born 31.10.1904
Mettbach Anna, born 16.06.1907
Mettbach Antonina, born 24.02.1920
Mettbach Georg, born 18.04.1914
Mettbach Maria, born 8.12.1936
Mettbach Marie, born 10.04.1924
Mettbach Marie, born 8.12.1936
Mettbach Minna, born 5.06.1937
Mettbach Peter, born 20.12.1911
Mettbach Rudolf, born 22.06.1915
Mettbach Rudolf, born 9.04.1936
Rose Anna, born 26.12.18??
Rose Anna, born 9.01.18??
Rose Anna, born 10.01.1910
Rose Friedrich, born 15.03.18??
Rose Julius, born 26.04.1918
Rose Karl, born 29.01.1901
Rose Martha, born 29.10.1932
Rose Robert, born 23.08.1939
Rose Selma, born 25.11.1906
Rose Sonja, born 29.05.1932
Rose Wendelin, born 23.03.1941
Schwarz Berta, born 21.05.1936
Schwarz Friedrich, born 27.07.18??
Straus Hans, born 20.09.1932
Strauss Franz, born 21.01.1932
Strauß Lisbeth, born 10.01.1938
Strauß-Bamberger Helga, born 10.03.1942
Trollman Adeltraut, born 8.07.1931
Trollman Heinrich Johann, born 27.12.1907
Trollman Heinrich, born 28.10.1916
Trollman Helene, born 22.10.1925
Trollman Maria, born 26.12.1894
Trollman Werner, deceased on 6.04.1944
Wagener Heinrich, born 9.09.1921
Wagner Adolf, born 10.06.1913
Wagner Anna Auguste, born 10.07.1906 – there is a division below her
Wagner Heinrich, born 24.07.18??
Wagner Karoline, born 21.06.1904
Wagner Karoline Auguste, born 13.11.18??
Wagner Katharina, born 28.09.18??
Wagner Konrad, born 25.11.18??
Wagner Maria, born 4.12.18??
Wagner Patriza, born ????
Wagner Peter, born 4.01.18??
Wagner Rosa, born 3.11.1928
Wagner Rosina, born ????
Wagner Theresia, born 5.10.1933
Wagner Veiga, born ????
Wagner Wanda, born 1920
Wagner Wilhelmina, born 12.12.1918
Wagner Wilma, born 12.05.1936
Weiss, deceased on 30.12.1943
Weiss Andreas, born 8.11.18??
Weiss Anna, born 6.09.1923
Weiss Arnold, born 26.08.1926
Weiss Bruno, born 2.10.1933
Weiss Bruno, deceased on 1943
Weiss Eduard, born 22.11.18??
Weiss Ferdinand, born 1936
Weiss Franz, born 3.03.1932
Weiss Franziska, born 12.08.18??
Weiss Gertrud, born 27.01.1905
Weiss Gottfried, born 11.09.1923
Weiss Hans, born 1930
Weiss Heinrich, born 23.01.1912
Weiss Heinrich, born 26.02.1920
Weiss Heinrich, born 7.06.1925
Weiss Rigoletto, born 30.05.1926
Weiss Robert, born 15.02.1920
Weiss Rudolf, born 8.04.1936
Weiss Wilhelm, born 1938
Weiss-Fahrenholz Joseph, born ????
Weiß Berta, born 24.03.1940
Weiß Adeltraut, born 7.08.1931
Weiß Waltraut, born 1.03.1928
Weiß-Schmidt Lina, born 8.05.1932
Date of the unveiling
March 3, 1998
Author
Dieter Gerhard
Address
Moorwaldweg (close to No. 103 – but it is better to use coordinates during the search), approx. 250 m from the junction of Moorwaldweg with Kirchhorster str./Hannoversche str., 30659 Hannover-Isernhagen, Germany
Location
52°25’07.2″N 9°50’24.1″E
52.418667, 9.840028
<iframe src=”https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d2116.4973619452876!2d9.837839115542456!3d52.41866667979513!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x0%3A0x0!2zNTLCsDI1JzA3LjIiTiA5wrA1MCcyNC4xIkU!5e1!3m2!1spl!2spl!4v1519079186145″ width=”600″ height=”450″ frameborder=”0″ style=”border:0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>
Materials
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahnmal_f%C3%BCr_die_Sinti_im_Altwarmb%C3%BCchener_Moor
http://www.erinnerungundzukunft.de/index.php?id=87
Gallery
2 zdjęcia – pechel sinti ze strony: http://www.erinnerungundzukunft.de/index.php?id=87
