Place of remembrance for sick and disabled people from Jena murdered during the Nazi era

We cordially invite you to the inauguration of the memorial plaque in memory of the sick and disabled people from Jena who were murdered during the Nazi era:

Sunday, September 1, 2019 at 11 a.m.
Town hall hall Jena

Speaking at the event

• Dr. Thomas Nitzsche, Lord Mayor
• Dr. Tobias Freimüller, Deputy Director of the Fritz Bauer Institute Frankfurt/M.
• Dr. Boris Böhm, Director of the Pirna-Sonnenstein Memorial
• Dr. Gisela Horn, Working Group "Speaking Past"

Since at least 1999, there has been a debate in Jena about the murders of sick people that took place during the National Socialist era and affected citizens of Jena. The sometimes very controversial debate initially focused on the involvement of Jena doctors.

The working group "Speaking Past. Jena in the era of National Socialism" has been researching the fates of Jena's victims since 2014 and was supported in particular by the director of the Pirna-Sonnenstein Memorial, Dr. Boris Böhm. The analysis of various archive materials showed that the highest number of Thuringian victims came from Jena; 60 sick and disabled people alone were gassed in the Pirna-Sonnenstein killing center between autumn 1940 and summer 1941 as part of "Aktion T 4", and a few people were gassed in other killing centers.

A memorial plaque in the town hall arcades is now intended to commemorate these murders under the pretext of "racial hygiene", which the National Socialists called "euthanasia" - from the Greek "the good death" - and to give the hitherto rather forgotten victims a place of remembrance in Jena.

September 1, 2019 was chosen as the date of the inauguration, as Adolf Hitler's letter of authorization under the cover designation "T4" (for the address Tiergartenstraße 4, where the Berlin headquarters were located) dates from September 1, 1939. It was the day on which the Second World War began. The decision brought death to at least 300,000 sick and disabled people.

80 years after this deadly order, the city of Jena is the first in Thuringia to commemorate the victims who were sent to their deaths because of illness or disability. The names of 60 former fellow citizens of Jena are named on the memorial plaque.

The unveiling of the plaque will be accompanied by music from the duo Matthias Hejlik (cello) and Eva-Maria Weinreich (piano).