Since 2011 a memorial path at the Leipzig Friedenspark remembers the children and youth who were murdered under the National Socialists' »euthanasia« campaign.
Leipzig was one of the centres of »child euthanasia«, the systematic murder of mentally ill and handicapped children and youth in the German Reich between 1939 and 1945. The program was coordinated centrally from Berlin. Part of the network were federal state authorities, municipal departments, hospitals, sanatoriums, mental hospitals, physicians and nurses. In several cities »special children's wards« were established. The name served as camouflage: only children who had been selected to be killed were moved there. The fate of the children were withheld from the relatives, they just received a short notification that the child died of natural causes.
The first recorded murder of a handicapped child (»Case K.«) took place in Leipzig in 1939 with the involvement of Werner Catel (1894-1981). In the following years two »special children's wards« existed in Leipzig. Between October 1940 and December 1943 at least 551 children were killed by the administration of poison in the Leipzig-Dösen Mental Hospital. Some of the victims were from other German regions or were children of foreign forced labourers. After air raids this killing centre moved to Großscheidnitz where another 300 children were killed. The other »special children's ward« was located at the Leipzig University Hospital, the number of its victims is not known.
The first recorded murder of a handicapped child (»Case K.«) took place in Leipzig in 1939 with the involvement of Werner Catel (1894-1981). In the following years two »special children's wards« existed in Leipzig. Between October 1940 and December 1943 at least 551 children were killed by the administration of poison in the Leipzig-Dösen Mental Hospital. Some of the victims were from other German regions or were children of foreign forced labourers. After air raids this killing centre moved to Großscheidnitz where another 300 children were killed. The other »special children's ward« was located at the Leipzig University Hospital, the number of its victims is not known.
In Leipzig, one of the central places of »child euthanasia«, physicians and nurses murdered more than 800 children. Since relevant records were lost the exact number of victims cannot be ascertained. Historians assume that at least 5,000 children and youth were murdered in more than 30 »special children's wards« between 1939 and 1945. If one adds the other youth which were murdered during the other National Socialists »euthanasia«-»campaigs«, the number might amount to 10,000.
After the war a legal examination of the »child euthanasia«-crimes seldom if ever took place in divided Germany. Most perpetrators continued to live undisturbed like Werner Catel, who was not only involved in »Case K.« but was one of the three main consultants in Berlin responsible for the selection of the children to be killed.
Most of the children killed in Leipzig were buried at various of the city's cemeteries. Most of the graves are no longer visible today. At the Friedenspark, the former cemetery »Neuer Johannisfriedhof«, about 100 children were buried in urn graves. In close proximity to these burial sites a memorial to the victims of the »child euthanasia« was established in the form of a curved path in a tree-lined garden. The design is by the landscape architect Antje Schuhmann and refers to the line »Das ist die Wiese Zittergras und das ist der Weg Lebwohl« (English: »This is the meadow shaking-grass, and this is the path farewell«) a quote from a poem by the Austrian lyricist Christine Lavant (1915-1973), who suffered of severe physical and mental illnesses throughout her life.
The memorial site was dedicated by the mayor of Leipzig on May 6, 2011. It was partly financed by donations, among others from Leipzig healthcare facilities and physicians.
Most of the children killed in Leipzig were buried at various of the city's cemeteries. Most of the graves are no longer visible today. At the Friedenspark, the former cemetery »Neuer Johannisfriedhof«, about 100 children were buried in urn graves. In close proximity to these burial sites a memorial to the victims of the »child euthanasia« was established in the form of a curved path in a tree-lined garden. The design is by the landscape architect Antje Schuhmann and refers to the line »Das ist die Wiese Zittergras und das ist der Weg Lebwohl« (English: »This is the meadow shaking-grass, and this is the path farewell«) a quote from a poem by the Austrian lyricist Christine Lavant (1915-1973), who suffered of severe physical and mental illnesses throughout her life.
The memorial site was dedicated by the mayor of Leipzig on May 6, 2011. It was partly financed by donations, among others from Leipzig healthcare facilities and physicians.
- Name
- Gedenken an Opfer der »Kinder-Euthanasie«
- Address
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Friedenspark, Linnéstraße
04103 Leipzig - Open
- The memorial site is accessible at all times