Memorials for the victims of Nazi military justice in Cologne
On 1 September 2009, a memorial dedicated to the victims of Nazi military justice was unveiled at Appellhofplatz in Cologne to mark the 70th anniversary of the invasion of Poland by the German Wehrmacht. The work of art is the first memorial to this group of victims for which a city has held an international competition. On 29 September 2019, another memorial dedicated to this group of victims was inaugurated at the former shooting range in Cologne-Dünnwald.
The memorial at the former shooting range in Cologne-Dünnwald, 2019
"WHAT CAN BE DONE BETTER, THAN DESERTING THE WAR?"
Dedication text:
Shooting range in Cologne-Dünnwald
Since 1887, a shooting range of the Prussian military was located here. It initially consisted of three shooting ranges. From 1899, shootings took place on a total of six shooting ranges with a length of 400 to 600 metres. The earth walls that separated the individual shooting lanes from each other and the remains of the wall that served as a bullet trap at the end of the lanes can still be seen today. After the defeat of the German Reich in the First World War, the site was closed down as part of the Allies' demilitarisation programme. When the Nazi regime remilitarised the Rhineland in 1936, in violation of international law, the site at Kalkweg was soon put back into military use.
Execution site of the Wehrmacht
The shooting range was used by the Wehrmacht as a military training ground until 1945. It also served as a place for the execution of Wehrmacht soldiers who had been sentenced to death by military courts. More than 20 men aged between 18 and 40 were shot here from 1940 to 1943.
Shortly before the end of the war, an 18-year-old and a 22-year-old soldier were shot dead near the shooting range.
These young men were victims of a military justice system shaped by National Socialist ideas. They paid with their lives for evading the war of extermination or actively refusing to serve the Nazi regime due to their convictions.
Even after 1945, the victims of National Socialist military justice continued to be regarded as cowards or traitors. Their families often suffered discrimination and were not granted any survivors' pensions. It was only in 1998, 2002 and 2009 that the Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany annulled the Nazi convictions of conscientious objectors, subversives of military power, deserters and war traitors.
The quote is from Ludwig Baumann (1921-2018), who was sentenced to death for desertion in 1942, reprieved and transferred to a penal battalion. He was the most important campaigner for the rehabilitation of this group of victims.
City of Cologne, September 2019
The memorial at Appellhofplatz
The memorial resembles a pergola and has a roof construction with a "chain text" that can only be read by walking into this work of art. The chain text translates as:
"Homage to the soldiers who refused to shoot the soldiers who refused to shoot the soldiers who refused to shoot the people who refused to kill the people who refused to kill the people who refused to torture the people who refused to torture the people who refused to denounce the people who refused to denounce the people who refused to brutalise the people who refused to discriminate the people who refused to laugh at people who refused to discriminate the people who showed solidarity and civil courage when the majority kept quiet and followed..."
The memorial was inaugurated on 1 September 2009 at Appellhofplatz with around 900 guests in attendance.
Photographic documentation of the event can be found here.