Solingen (memorial)

Historical background

Description of commemoration

The former railroad surrounding the city was turned into a cycling and running path. You can enter the path along the Korkenziehertrasse, which will take you close to the memorial, through the entry points close to Potshauserstraße or Klaubergerstraße.

The memorial itself took a very interesting form. Not very visible from the bicycle path, but separated from it by a kind of platform, it is covered with corroded corrugated plate. The monument is over 2 metres high. It consists of two steles, i.e. two parts of railroad tracks embedded in the pedestal. The rails are connected with a steel installation, rolled up in the shape of a barbed wire, from which drops of blood flow out. The blood drops are made of red, drop-shaped glass embedded in lead.

The steles bear inscriptions in German.

The form of the fencing around the memorial site is also noteworthy. It consists of 6 steel poles, forged to resemble the concrete poles of electric fence, characteristic of the concentration camp fences. In this case the poles are connected by 3 rows of barbed wire, but the “fuses” are also forged out of steel.

Inscriptions

The stele on the left:

Text in German:

GEGEN DAS / Am 3 März 1943 / wurden sämtliche / noch in Solingen / lebende Sinti / aus den Baracken / Wörthstr. und / Potshauserstr. / in das / Vernichtungslager / Auschwitz / verschleppt.

Translation:

AGAINST. On March 3, 1943, all Sinti from Solingen, who lived in barracks at Wörthstraße and Potshauserstraße, were deported to the Auschwitz extermination camp.

The stele on the right:

Text in German:

VERGESSEN / Der organisierten / Völkenmord an / den Sinti fielen / mindetens 55 / Angehörige der / Familien Weiß, / Meinhardt, Straub, / Steinbach, Reinchardt, / und Wagner zum, / Opfer.

Translation:

FORGETTING. At least 55 members of the Weiß, Meinhardt, Straub, Steinbach, Reinchardt and Wagner families were victims of organised Sinti genocide.

The upper lines of the inscription form the inscription GEGEN DAS VERGESSEN – i.e. ‘Against Forgetting’.

The plaque on the right post of the fencing around the memorial site:

In German:

Auf der Schiene verschleppt / hinter Stacheldraht einesperrt / tausendfaches Menschenblut / vergossen. // Diese Gedenkstätte / wurde von der / Jugendhilfewerkstatt Solingen / gestaltet und erstellt. / Gemeinsam / schufen junge Menschen mit / verschidenen Nationalitäten / dieses Mahnmal. // Betreten Sie diesen Ort / mit / Würde und Anstand.

Translation:

Trapped behind barbed wire and a rail, spilling a lot of human blood … This memorial was designed and made by the Youth of the “Volunteer Labour Corps” in Solingen. Youth of different nationalities created this monument hand in hand. Enter this place with dignity and decency.

Date of the unveiling

March 4, 2007

Author

Jugendhilfewerkstatt – Brücknerstraße Solingen (Heinz Siering, Lukas Heinz, Mirco Gerber, Werner Braschos, Patrick Seifert)

Initiator

Heinz Siering

Address

Korkenziehertrasse, near the entrance at Potshauserstraße, 42651 Solingen, Germany

The Korkenziehertstrasse cycling path (former railroad tracks) between the Klaubergerstrasse streets which run below it. (From this point you can go upstairs and go along the cycling path towards Cronenbergerstrasse)