Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum (2024)

On the site of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp built by the Nazis in 1936, the Sachsenhausen National Memorial was inaugurated on 22 April 1961. In order to symbolise the victory of anti-fascism, it was decided not to preserve the original buildings that still existed; only some structural relics and reconstructions were to be included. Since January 1993, as the Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum, it has been part of the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation, a foundation under public law jointly financed by the federal government and the state of Brandenburg.

History of Sachsenhausen during the Nazi Era

During the National Socialist era, Sachsenhausen occupied a special position as a model and training camp for the SS and, from 1938, as the administrative centre for all concentration camps in the German sphere of power. Here, in the immediate vicinity of the Reich capital, more than 200,000 people were imprisoned until 1945. The prisoners were initially mainly political opponents of the regime, then also members of groups declared racially or biologically inferior by the Nazis and, from 1939, increasingly citizens of the occupied European states.

Liberation of the Camp on April 22, 1945

Tens of thousands of prisoners perished here through hunger, disease, forced labour and abuse or became victims of systematic extermination actions by the SS. Thousands more died on the death marches after the camp was evacuated at the end of April 1945. About 3,000 sick people, doctors and nurses who remained in the camp were liberated by Russian and Polish units of the Red Army on April 22, 1945.

From Concentration Camp to Soviet Special Camp

During its use as a Soviet special camp - the largest of three special camps in the Soviet occupation zone - some 60,000 people were imprisoned in Sachsenhausen in 1945-50, including former SS functionaries, political dissidents and those convicted by Soviet military tribunals. More than 12,000 people died of malnutrition and disease.

Exhibitions and Original Buildings in Sachsenhausen

Today's memorial site includes some original camp buildings and remains of buildings in which permanent exhibitions are shown, as well as the museum "Barrack 38", in which Sinti, Roma and Jews were imprisoned from 1938 onwards and deported to Auschwitz in 1942. The building, reconstructed in 1961 from original parts, was integrated into the National Memorial of the GDR as the "Museum of the Resistance Struggle and the Sufferings of Jewish Citizens". A right-wing extremist arson attack in 1992, shortly after the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin, destroyed the B wing of the barrack; the other wing and the adjacent barrack 39 were badly damaged. Reconstruction according to plans by the Frankfurt architectural firm Braun, Voigt & Partner was completed in 1997.

Map view

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Address

Strasse der Nationen 22

16515 Oranienburg

City map

Opening Hours

March 15 - October 14: daily from 8.30 AM to 6 PM
October 15 - March 14: daily from 8.30 AM to 4.30 PM
Outdoor area: täglich daily from 8.30 AM to 4.30 PM
In the winter months, the museum, archive and library are closed on Mondays.

Accessibility

Due to the preservation order for the historic site, barrier-free access is only possible to a limited extent. It is recommended for people with visual impairments, walking difficulties and for wheelchair users to be accompanied..

Admission Fee

free

Guided Tours

Several guided tours on different topics, information and registration under +49 (0)3301 200 200

Website

www.sachsenhausen-sbg.de/en

Source: Berlin.de | All texts, photographs and graphics on this site are protected by copyright. They may not be copied, reproduced, translated or used in any other way.

Last edited: 7 April 2022