Remembering the invasion of Poland and German occupation in Europe

For years, the German public has been considering what a dignified memory of the victims of German occupation – especially in eastern Europe – can look like. There were concepts for a “Poland Monument”, a memorial site for the victims of the Nazi “living space” policy or a documentation centre of german occupation in Europe from 1939 to 1945.

Two of the institutions involved in the discussion, the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe Foundation and the German Poland Institute in Darmstadt, are now calling for the various initiatives to be merged. The concept for a “memorial site to the invasion of Poland and a documentation centre for German occupation in Europe” provides for three elements: concrete historical remembrance, documentation and education. We propose to implement these three levels in the centre of Berlin in a common spatial context – in a forum that combines empathy with the victims, historical information, educational offers and the current dialogue on memory policy.

A (three-dimensional) place of remembrance would recall the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 and thus the outbreak of the Second World War. He would commemorate, in German and Polish – and possibly other languages – the Polish and other victims of Nazi occupation and extermination policies in Europe until 1945. A documentation centre is intended to present the German occupation of almost the entire continent in a comprehensive and comparative way. Educational formats are intended to remind individual groups of victims – Poland, but also Ukrainians, Belarusians or Russians.

We are convinced that such a solution will close a painful void in the German culture of remembrance.

Please refer to the enclosed concept for details . We are available for information.