Cottbus: A Station of Remembrance Makes Nazi History Visible
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A Station Becomes a Space of Remembrance
The special exhibition Cottbus: A Station of Remembrance. Deportations and Forced Labor in National Socialism focuses on a place where local history and European persecution history painfully converge. The Cottbus station was much more than a transportation hub during the Nazi era: Through its tracks, expulsions, deportations, transport of prisoners and transport of people who were subjected to forced labor took place.
Historical Traces between Tracks and Remembrance
The exhibition makes visible how Jewish individuals with Polish citizenship were expelled from Cottbus and the region in 1938. During World War II, the Reichsbahn transported Jews to ghettos in occupied Poland and to Theresienstadt. Additionally, deportation trains from western and southern German cities as well as from the occupied countries of Western Europe passed through Cottbus.
Four Narratives of Nazi History
The curated presentation connects historical research, regional city history, and cultural education. The focus is on the exclusion and disenfranchisement of the Jewish population, Cottbus as a transit point for deportation trains, the women's penitentiary as a site of political imprisonment, and forced labor in industrial companies, with the Reichsbahn, in municipal facilities, and on farms.
Names, Routes, and Individual Fates
A media installation inspired by historical departure boards brings to mind names, deportation sites, former addresses, and transport routes. The aesthetic experience of this installation arises not from decorative art, but from the concentrated connection of document, text, spatial effect, and historical responsibility. An everyday transportation place becomes a poignant space of remembrance.
Remembrance as a Democratic Task
The project was developed within the framework of the MemoRails program – Stop! Here, Nazi history is remembered, and is supported by the Foundation for Remembrance, Responsibility and Future, as well as the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. Involved are, among others, the Human Rights Center Cottbus, exhibeo, the AG Stolpersteine Cottbus, and the Municipal Collections Cottbus. Accompanying educational offerings and peer-to-peer tours also target students.
Conclusion: An Artistic Experience of Remembrance
Visitors can expect a historically grounded exhibition that does not treat persecution, deportation, and forced labor abstractly, but connects them with concrete places, names, and life paths. The exhibition opens an intense contemplation of the work in a figurative sense: It calls for a new reading of public space and reflection on the significance of the rule of law, democracy, and human rights in the present. A visit enriches cultural education and creates a sustainable aesthetic experience.
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