Memorial Opernplatz

The entry by the Italian artist Michelangelo Pistoletto won the competition for the design of the memorial. Three years after the establishment of the Memoriam Society, the laying of the foundation stonetook place on the square next to the Opera on May 26th, 1994.

On October 9th, 1994, the memorial was dedicated with significant public interest. The premier of Lower Saxony, Gerhard Schröder, and the mayor of Hannover, Herbert Schmalstieg, gave the welcome address for the handover of the “Memorial by the Opera” to the public. The Chief Rabbi of Lower Saxony (German: Landesrabbiner), Dr. Henry Brandt, spoke a prayer:

“We commemorate our brothers and sisters of the Hannover Jewish community who, during the time of the National Socialist tyranny, were driven to their deaths through arrogance, hate, and racial fanaticism or were banished from their homeland into foreign regions - ridiculed and despised. We grieve for everything that was destroyed with them. […] May such terrible times never return again, so that their sacrifice was not in vain. By commemorating them, we gain strength in our daily struggle against cruelty and prejudice, against tyranny and persecution. Amen.”

The names of the murdered Jewish men, women, and children of Hannover - compiled by Peter Schulze – were engraved into the sandstone slabs of the memorial. With two additions, based on more recent research, there are currently 1935 people named, and their fates described, on the monument.

Picture credits

Dr. Karljosef Kreter