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Writer's pictureIlka Knüppel

Shining the Light - National Memorial - Berlin, Germany

Updated: Sep 1

In 2014 in Berlin, Germany, a national memorial to Aktion T4 victims, designed by the architects Ursula Wilms and Heinz W. Hallman, along with the artist Nikolau Koliusis, was dedicated.  The German government paid 500,000 Euros towards its installation. 


The placement of the memorial at the site of the former Jewish-owned villa in which the plans were made to eradicate persons with disabilities is deliberate.  

The monument's 24-metre blue glass wall at the Cultural Forum immediately catches your eye. The transparent wall stands out from the grey of the concrete square. The colour of the memorial symbolises the sky and commemorates the victims of this mass murder, and the use of glass is also deliberate. Permeable only by gaze, the installation shows how quickly fellow humans, although they are visible, can be systematically excluded. Here, the "euthanesia" killings are brought to our attention by a multimedia panel. Original documents give a rare glimpse into the euthanasia programme, with its utter ugliness and bureaucratic meticulousness. Sound recordings, videos and poignant witness statements make apparent the suffering of physically and mentally disadvantaged people in the Third Reich. The written texts are also written in Braille and is accessible to physically handicapped individuals so that information about the "euthanasia" killings are accessible to everybody.



The following photographs are of the Aktion T4 memorial in Berlin located at the Tiergartenstraße 4 - Memorial and Information Point for the Victims of National Socialist “Euthanasia” Killings. You must visit next time you're in Berlin. Location:










A small yellow flower shows resilience as it grows through the concrete next to the euthanasia memorial in Berlin.


Author’s photographs of the T4 Memorial in Berlin, Germany.



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