On 22 June 2023, the German Bundestag decided to erect a memorial to Jehovah’s Witnesses who were persecuted and murdered under National Socialism.
The future location will be in the Großer Tiergarten park near the Goldfischteich pond. The memorial will be opened to the public on 24 June 2026. Among those expected to attend the one-hour ceremony are Bundestag President Julia Klöckner, Minister of State for Culture and Media Wolfram Weimer, and Berlin Senator for Culture Sarah Wedl-Wilson.
Memorial
currently under construction
place
Großer Tiergarten near the goldfish pond, 10117 Berlin
Contact
+49 30 26 39 43 – 36
besucherservice@stiftung-denkmal.de
Historical background and the artist
The Christian religious community of Jehovah’s Witnesses, also known as the Earnest Bible Students, was systematically persecuted in Germany from 1933 onwards and in Nazi-controlled Europe from 1938 onwards.
They refused to give the Hitler salute, join state organisations or perform military service. They were persecuted, imprisoned in concentration camps and murdered – in the German Reich as well as in most of the conquered territories.
Almost 14,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses – women and men – were imprisoned, including 4,200 in concentration camps, where they were stigmatised with a ‘purple triangle’. At least 1,750 Jehovah’s Witnesses lost their lives.
Why this location?
During a wave of arrests in 1936, leading Jehovah’s Witnesses throughout Germany were imprisoned. At least 17 of those arrested died as a result of torture. One of these Gestapo arrests took place on 22 August 1936 at the goldfish pond in Berlin’s Tiergarten park.
The artist Matthias Leeck
The artist Matthias Leeck designed the simple bronze sculpture for the memorial site. Due to its weight, it will be transported to the future memorial site in individual parts and assembled on site. The memorial site will be integrated into the Großer Tiergarten garden landscape monument in accordance with the specifications of the State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments, together with an information board, an access path and various plantings.
View of the bronze sculpture: Virtual model of the memorial to Jehovah’s Witnesses persecuted and murdered under National Socialism, Matthias Leeck, image synthesis, 2026
Biographical supplement
School projects and youth memorial initiatives are creating an interactive map showing places of resistance and persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses, to be unveiled at the memorial’s inauguration.
Under the heading ‘Memory of the Nameless,’ young people, guided by teachers and youth workers, are creating a constantly growing database of biographies of Jehovah’s Witnesses. This data forms the basis for an interactive map of places of resistance and persecution. Historical documents and photos, as well as video clips created during the young people’s work, will supplement the biographical information on the interactive map. Throughout the project, the young people will repeatedly engage in active exchange formats with their research results. The project is funded by the EVZ Foundation and the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM) as part of the JUGEND erinnert vor Ort & engagiert (YOUTH remembers locally & gets involved) programme
Short documentary film ‘Bible Students – Incredible Courage’
The Permanent Conference of Nazi Memorial Sites in the Berlin Area took the German Bundestag’s decision on 22 June 2023 as an opportunity to produce a short film about the religious community. The film, entitled ‘Bible Students – Incredible Courage,’ was completed in January 2026 and provides information about Nazi persecution, the courageous resistance of many Jehovah’s Witnesses against the Nazi regime, and the ongoing repression in the GDR after 1945.
