Cottbus: A Station of Remembrance at the Human Rights Center
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A station becomes an urgent place of remembrance
The special exhibition Cottbus: A Station of Remembrance. Deportations and Forced Labor in National Socialism makes visible how closely the Cottbus station was linked to exclusion, deportation, political imprisonment, and forced labor during the Nazi era. At the Cottbus Human Rights Center, visitors encounter a historically grounded presentation that connects local urban history with European remembrance culture and cultural education.
Historical traces between tracks and commemorative sites
The Cottbus station was not a neutral transport hub. In 1938, Jewish people with Polish citizenship were expelled from Cottbus and the surrounding region to Poland. During World War II, deportation trains passed through Cottbus to ghettos in occupied Poland and to Theresienstadt. Transport from west and south German cities as well as from occupied Western European countries also crossed the Cottbus tracks.
The exhibition expands this perspective to include transports of prisoners to and from the Women's Penitentiary Cottbus. This creates a multifaceted historical panorama in which transport history, persecution history, and state-organized violence become visible together.
Forced labor as part of Cottbus urban history
Another focus is on the people who were forcibly transported to work in Cottbus during World War II. In industrial enterprises, with the Reichsbahn, in municipal facilities, and on farms, people from numerous European countries were forced to work. The exhibition thus also illustrates the economic and social structures in which exploitation became a part of everyday life.
Documents, names, and a digital media installation
Historical documents, photographs, maps, and biographical traces give the affected individuals back their names, origins, and individual life stories. A digital media installation, inspired by historical departure boards, recalls deportation routes, destination stations, names, and former addresses of the deported.
The atmosphere of the exhibition arises from the tension between familiar infrastructure and shocking realization. Text, light, movement, and spatial impact combine to create a concentrated installation. The aesthetic experience relies not on decorative painting or classical sculpture but on the intense examination of historical sources and the encounter with a burdened site.
Four thematic areas of the curated presentation
The curation follows four interconnected narratives: the exclusion and deprivation of rights of the Jewish population, the deportation trains through Cottbus, the women's penitentiary as a site of political imprisonment, and the everyday life of forced labor in enterprises and institutions of the city. The intergenerational and interactive approach opens access for different visitor groups.
The project was developed as part of "MemoRails – Stop! Here, Nazi history is remembered" by the Foundation for Remembrance, Responsibility and Future and is funded by the Commissioner of the Federal Government for Culture and Media. The Cottbus Human Rights Center e.V., exhibeo e.V., the AG Stolpersteine Cottbus, and the City Collections of Cottbus are involved. Students also develop peer-to-peer tours.
Culture of remembrance and relevance to the present
The exhibition understands historical education as a contribution to human rights, the rule of law, and social cohesion. It not only asks what happened at the Cottbus station but also how a democratic society deals with the traces of deprivation of rights and violence today.
Conclusion: Experience history on site
Visitors can expect a precisely researched, emotionally concentrated, and educational art experience. The exhibition combines installation, documentation, media art, and culture of remembrance into an urgent aesthetic experience. Anyone wanting to connect Cottbus urban history, Nazi history, and cultural education should definitely visit this exhibition live at the Cottbus Human Rights Center.
