Former Lord Mayer Dr. Helmut Müller at the laying of the Foundation Stone in 2010.
(Photographer: Oliver Hebel)
In the not too distant future, there will be no more eyewitnesses who can tell us from personal memory about the years before 1945—about the Shoah, the horrors of the National Socialists. That is why we need places of remembrance—as reminders for present and future generations, as memorials for the victims of the Tyranny. It is a matter of making visible that in Wiesbaden too—as everywhere in Germany—there were inconceivable crimes against humanity, that collective transports to the concentration camps also started from here, that people who had lived in our city and who were neighbors had to die because of their faith and their origin.
It was the special concern of our late city council chairwoman Angelika Thiels that with the memorial at the site of the former synagogue, which was destroyed by the National Socialists on November 10, 1938, a very personal and “tangible” form of remembrance should be found. Each of the more than 1,500 names inscribed here and the dates associated with them stand for a person who was singled out, who was branded, and who fell victim to the inconceivable crimes of the Nazis.
It was important to Angelika Thiels to create a space that gives relatives the opportunity to mourn, that gives the dead a face, that prevents the memory from disappearing, that enables discussions.
“Human dignity is inviolable”. This lesson from the National Socialist crimes was enshrined by the fathers of the Basic Law in the first article of our constitution. The memorial in the Coulinstraße is an everlasting and clearly visible reminder not to forget this mandate.
Dr. Helmut Müller
Former Lord Mayor