+++ Please note +++ As the day of remembrance will be a Saturday this year, some events will not take place until the following week. These dates will be indicated in the article. +++ Should there be any disruptions at commemorative events, it is well-advised to be prepared. Together with our partner project MBR, we have compiled recommendations for dealing with such disruptions HERE. +++
Main memorial sites
At the memorial and information site Gedenk- und Informationsort für die Opfer der nationalsozialistischen „Euthanasie“-Morde at Tiergartenstraße 4, 10785 Berlin, a commemoration will take place on January 31 at 12:00 with a wreath-laying ceremony and a musical performance by deaf and hearing artists. This year, special attention will be paid to deaf victims of National Socialism. (Event with translation into German sign/sound language and Leichte Sprache).
The commemoration of Initiativkreis and Ständige Kommission der NS-Gedenkorte im Berliner Raum focuses on the so-called “Fabrik-Aktion”, which took place on January 27, 1943, and the subsequent protests of Rosenstraße. A silent commemoration and a subsequent memorial service is scheduled to start at 16:00 at the memorial at Große Hamburger Straße. Please find the invitation and detailed program here.
On January 31 at 13:00, there will be a silent commemoration and wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial for homosexuals persecuted under National Socialism for LGBTIQ* people who were persecuted and murdered under National Socialism. The Lesbian and Gay Association Berlin-Brandenburg and the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe invite you to attend. The location is on Ebertstraße near Hannah-Arendt-Straße in 10785 Berlin-Tiergarten.
Subsequently, at 14:00 on January 31, the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma will hold a commemoration at the Memorial to the Sinti and Roma of Europe Murdered under National Socialism at Simsonweg. A joint commemoration by the Federal Government Commissioner for Antiziganism and the Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight against anti-Semitism will start at 15:30 at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe at Cora-Berliner-Straße 1.
Kreuzberg
On January 25 at 19:00, Alexander Walther will speak about the commemoration of January 27 in the GDR. Jalda Rebling will make a musical contribution. Venue: W. M. Blumenthal Academy, Klaus Mangold Auditorium opposite the Jewish Museum. Registration is required. More information can be found here.
Lichtenberg
VVN-BdA Lichtenberg invites to join the commemoration from 14:00 at the memorial Ehrenmal für die Opfer des Faschismus at Loeperplatz.
The annual light campaign starts at 17:00 at the town hall Lichtenberger Stadthaus: the names of over 300 expelled and murdered Jews from Lichtenberg and Hohenschönhausen will be projected onto the gable wall of the building until the morning of the following day. Location: Türrschmidtstraße on the corner of Stadthausstraße.
At 17:30, the exhibition “Je pense à toi Charlotte” opens at the same location with photographs from the area surrounding the camp Vernichtungslager Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Descendants of the Jewish communist, resistance fighter, and survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp, Kurt-Julius Goldstein, will read from Rosemarie Schuder and Rudolf Hirsch’s book “No. 58866: Judenkönig” from 17:00 and talk about what it was like to grow up with him as a grandfather and what they have thus learned for their lives. The event will take place at Wellblechpalast. More information can be found here.
Marzahn-Hellersdorf
The alliance Bündnis für Demokratie und Toleranz Marzahn-Hellersdorf invites you join events at nine locations thoughout the day between 9:00 and 14:00 am and 2 pm. Please find further information here.
From 1 pm a commemorative hour will take place at the open-air exhibition of the forced labor camp memorial Gedenkstätte Zwangslager Berlin-Marzahn at Otto-Rosenberg-Straße 1. Afterwards, the film „Schatten der Vergangenheit – lautes Schweigen, leises Erzählen“ (2023) will be screened at Don-Bosco-Zentrum. The event is organized in cooperation with the alliance Bündnis für Demokratie und Toleranz Marzahn-Hellersdorf and Landesverband Deutscher Sinti und Roma Berlin-Brandenburg.
Mitte
On occasion of Remembrance Day, Anne Frank Zentrum at Rosenthaler Straße 39 is offering a public tour of the exhibition “Alles über Anne”. The one-hour tour starts at 14:00.
A service in memory of the victims of National Socialism will be held in the church Französische Friedrichstadtkirche on Gendarmenmarkt from 19:00, organized by Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste, Evangelische Akademie zu Berlin, and Französische Kirche Berlin.
Pankow
The Berlin chapter of BUNDjugend invites young people in particular to take part in a two-hour stumbling stone cleaning campaign. The meeting point is 16:00 at Prenzlauer Allee/Danziger Straße tram stop. Afterwards, the initiative will screen the film “Ich bin! Margot Friedländer” at its regional office at Erich-Weinert-Straße 82. Registration (Anmeldung) is requested for both events.
A chain of lights under the slogan „Lichterkette für ein solidarisches und gewaltfreies Miteinander, gegen Antisemitismus und Rassismus” will take place from 18:00. The start is at the former Jewish orphanage at Berliner Straße 121, 13187 Berlin-Pankow. Afterwards, a prayer service can be attended in the old parish church in Pankow. The event is organized by the intiative Kommission für Bürgerarbeit, VVN-BdA-Pankow, and the parish Ev. Kirchengemeinde Alt-Pankow.
Neukölln
“… und der Regen rinnt” is a filmed theater performance with texts and songs from the Theresienstadt concentration camp. The Britzer intiative Hufeisern Gegen Rechts invites to join the film screening followed by a discussion on the current significance of remembering the Shoah with Eike Stegen (memorial site Haus der Wannseekonferenz) at Britzer Gemeinde der Berliner Stadtmission at Malchiner Straße 73, 12359 Berlin (near Parchimer Allee subway station) from 15:00.
Tempelhof-Schöneberg
SPD Friedenau invites to a stumbling stone cleaning campaign from 14:00. Meeting point is the information board in Stierstraße.
At 19:00, GofenbergChor choir will perform in the church Apostel-Paulus-Kirche (Grunewaldstraße 77a) under the slogan “…zeyn a mentsh vi ir…” with songs in Yiddish and Hebrew. Admission is free.
Reinickendorf
Reinickendorfer BVV and the district office invite to commemorate the victims of National Socialism and lay wreaths at 11:00 in front of the memorial plaque at Reinickendorf town hall (Antonyplatz 1).
Steglitz-Zehlendorf
A silent commemoration and wreath-laying ceremony will take place at the memorial Mahnmal des ehemaligen Außenlagers des KZs Sachsenhausen from 11:00. The district council and the local district office invite you to attend. Venue: Wismarer Straße / Eugen-Kleine-Brücke.
At 12:00, there will be a silent wreath-laying ceremony at the mirror wall on Hermann-Ehlers-Platz, which commemorates the former synagogue and the deportation of Berlin Jews.
At 18:00, a memorial service will begin in the church Martin-Luther-Kirche Lichterfelde, Tulpenstraße 1, under the slogan “Gemeinsam gegen das Vergessen.”
Treptow-Köpenick
The association VVN-BdA Köpenick will hold a rally from 11:00 to 12:00 at the memorial on Platz des 23. April (Bahnhofstr./Lindenstr.). This will be followed by a joint walk to the former synagogue.
The opening of the exhibition “Ausschnitte des jüdischen Lebens in Schöneweide bis 1945” will take place at 15:00 at KIEZKLUB KES (Plönzeile 7).
On the occasion of Remembrance Day, a public guided tour of the memorial site Gedenkstätte Köpenicker Blutwoche (Puchanstraße 12) will take place at 15:00.
At the memorial and burial site Erinnerungsort und Begräbnisstätte am Friedhof Altglienicke (Schönefelder Chaussee 100, 12524 Berlin), a musical memorial service for the 1380 victims of National Socialism from various countries buried there will begin at 17:00. Among the participants will be Dariusz Pawlos, Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to Germany, who will read out the names of the Polish victims.
near Berlin
The town of Bernau invites to join in the commemoration at the memorial at Bernau train station, scheduled to start at 11:00. There will be a further commemoration at the memorial at the church in Schönow at 10:00.
Marko Martin will be reading “old” books at Hohen Neuendorf town hall from 19:00, lead by the question of the extent to which writers such as Hilde Spiel, Primo Levi, Fritz Beer, and Hermann Broch are still relevant regarding current debates.
In Potsdam, commemorative events will take place at 11:00 (Willi-Frohwein-Platz), 14:00 and 15:00 (both at Lindenstraße memorial). Please find more information (LINK).
In Rüdersdorf, the public memorial event at Kolonistenfriedhof cemetery can be attended from 10:30. There will be an accompanying musical program in presence of the mayor.
In Schöneiche, the local community representatives invite to attend the wreath-laying ceremony at 10:00 at Schlosspark under the slogan „Gemeinsam erinnern – Gemeinsam gedenken: Stilles Gedenken an die Opfer des Nationalsozialismus“.
The town of Strausberg invites you to a memorial event for the victims of National Socialism. It starts at 10:00 at the memorial stone behind the Dietrich Bonhoeffer senior center on Wriezener Straße. Students from Lise-Meitner-Oberschule and representatives of VVN-BdA Märkisch-Oderland will be present.
The Ravensbrück Memorial Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Ravensbrück is organizing a two-hour participatory reading from 11:30 on the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of National Socialism. On this day, survivors of the Ravensbrück concentration camp will read from their own memories and testimonies.