Norderstedt (memorial stone)
See also: Hannover (plaque, Altwarmbüchener-Moorwaldweg)
Historical background
The first concentration camp in Hamburg was located on the northern city limits in Wittmoor, near the then municipality of Glashütte (known as Norderstedt since 1970). As the name implies (moor), there was a peat processing plant in this place. On March 31, 1933, the first prisoners were brought to the camp and were detained in workshops surrounded by barbed wire. A few months later, the camp was evacuated to Fuhlsbüttel, because the camp management decided that running the company in Wittmoor was not profitable.
In the Wittmoor camp itself, the conditions were supposedly bearable, and the terror, characteristic of concentration camps, was completely absent. However for many prisoners the camp, which was closed relatively quickly, was the beginning of the road through suffering to death. The memorial stone at KL Wittmoor was unveiled in the autumn of 1986. The current commemoration – a stone with a plaque with a quote from the speech of President Richard von Weizsäcker (from May 8, 1985) has been in this place since 1988.
Description of commemoration
Initially, there was a memorial stone with an inscription at the Wittmoor memorial site. In the following years, the area was also developed, creating a “stop” on the bicycle and tourist route, a quiet place, full of reflection, but equipped with benches where you can sit and relax.
The setting of the memorial stone is a flower bed with a stone wall. A cobblestone pavement made of granite cubes leads to the memorial. The whole square with the memorial site is neat and sprinkled with chipped off-cuts of wood and bark.
On the left side of the memorial stone there is an information board, only in German, entitled: “KZ Wittmoor – Gedenken an die Opfer”, depicting the history of this camp.
This place, located on the tourist path, is marked as “Gedenkstatte KZ Wittmoor”.
Inscriptions
In German:
Wir gedenken der 6 Millionen Juden, die in deutschen Konzentrationslagern ermordet wurden, der Opfer des Widerstandes, der ermordeten Sinti und Roma, der getöteten Homosexuellen, der umgebrachten Geisteskranken, der Menschen, die um ihrer religiösen oder politischen Überzeugung willen sterben mussten. // Bundespräsident Richard von Weizsäcker am 8.5.1985 // In Erinnerung an das Lager Wittmoor
Translation:
In commemoration of the 6 million Jews murdered in German concentration camps, the victims of resistance, the murdered Sinti and Roma, homosexuals, those mentally ill, and people who had to die for their own political and religious beliefs. – The President of Germany, Richard von Weizsäcker, on May 8, 1985. In remembrance of the Wittmoor camp.
Date of the unveiling
May 29, 1988
Address
KZ-Gedenkstätte Wittmoor in Norderstedt, Am Wittmoor, 22851 Norderstedt, Germany
Location
53°41’30.3″N 10°03’35.7″E
53.691750, 10.059917
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Materials
Puvogel, Ulrike/Stankowski, Martin: Gedenkstätten für die Opfer des Nationalsozialismus. Eine Dokumentation, 2. überarb. und erw. Auflg., Band I, Bonn 1995, S. 760-761.
http://gedenkorte.sintiundroma.de/index.php?ortID=129
Gallery
