© Stadtarchiv Cottbus
Cottbus railway station was the starting point for deportations. The project Bahnhof der Erinnerung [A railway station of remembrance] commemorates National Socialist crimes with memorial markers, exhibitions and events and advocates for human rights.
Cottbus central station is the biggest passenger station in Brandenburg and, during the Nazi era, was the point of departure for deportations with the involvement of the Deutsche Reichsbahn. Persecution and terror activities carried out by the Nazi regime culminated here in public. The Cottbus Jewish population, inmates of the women’s prison and forced laborers were affected. Furthermore, deportation trains went via Cottbus to ghettos and death camps. This largely forgotten history is to be made visible at the historical site: with a permanent memorial marker, a temporary exhibition in the station concourse as well as public events. The exhibition also deals with the role of the German Reichsbahn and the reactions of the Cottbus population. The project aims to commemorate the events, present historical facts and, at the same time, raise awareness of the rule of law and human rights.
The Cottbus Prison memorial site is a unique project in Germany’s places of memory and, as the only institution of this kind in southern Brandenburg, has an impact beyond Cottbus and the surrounding area. Since 2011, the area has belonged to the association Menschenrechtszentrum e.V., founded by former inmates with the aim of turning the former prison (1860 to 2002) into a place of commemoration, admonition and education. Using modern, creative methods, the commemorative site presents historical and political knowledge about German history with a focus on National Socialism and the SED regime, linking historical issues to current questions surrounding democracy and human rights.
The program includes guided tours, seminars, project days, creative and film workshops, theater-based educational formats, and audio walks through the city. In the summer of 2024, a new permanent exhibition titled “Imprisonment, Coercion, Arbitrariness: From Youth Prison to Cottbus Women’s Penitentiary, 1933–1945” opened.
