Memorial and Place of Remembrance

In April 1965, 20 years after the liberation of the concentration camp, former French prisoners visited Falkensee.

At the place of their suffering they donated a commemorative plaque as a reminder. A replica of this plaque received a worthy place on the memorial designed by the Dresden sculptor Karl Schönherr, which was inaugurated in 1967 on the former site of the camp in the presence of many former prisoners and numerous Falkensee citizens.

On four bronze plaques, the artist recorded the gruesome everyday life in the camp and showed the arrival of the Red Army in April 1945. Rallies and wreath-laying took place here every year on the day of the liberation of the camp until 1989. After that, the place lost its public interest, unknown persons desecrated the memorial in 1992.

A year later, the city of Falkensee began to develop the site of the former concentration camp as a park, to create paths and to uncover the structural remains and traces of the camp. The historical park was inaugurated on April 25, 1995 by former prisoners from eight European countries together with the town of Falkensee. In addition to the French plaque, since 2005 there has also been a plaque commemorating the Norwegian prisoners.

After all four bronze relief panels of the memorial were stolen in 2012, the Falkensee sculptor Ingo Wellmann reinterpreted the panels from sandstone.

On October 11, 1967, former prisoners, representatives of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), the City Council of Falkensee and soldiers of the National People's Army (NVA) inaugurated the memorial.
Source: U. Wolter, Archive Museum Falkensee

Audio text in plain language: Memorial and place of remembrance

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Audio tour station: Walking and remembering

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Two years before the inauguration of the memorial, former French prisoners had erected a commemorative plaque on the edge of the former subcamp with the following inscription: "Oranienburg - Sachsenhausen. In memory of the deported French from the Staaken - Falkensee commando. Died for the peace and independence of their fatherland, victims of National Socialist barbarism".
Source: Photographer unknown, Archive Museum Falkensee
Numerous commemorative rallies took place at the memorial site. Here is a rally that took place on September 8, 1968 in the presence of members of the SED unity party, the NVA and young pioneers of the state youth organization of the GDR. Montage of two photographs by Gerhard Zimmermann (then museum director Falkensee).
Source: Ulrich Zielke, Archive Museum Falkensee
International exchange: Commemoration with schoolchildren from Oslo and Falkensee in September 2017. Shortly before that, the French bronze memorial plaque was stolen, while the Norwegian one secured the city in the museum. In the meantime, both bronze tablets have been replaced by stone slabs.
Source: Archive Museum Falkensee