Relatives honour the memory of the prisoners of the Neuengamme Concentration Camp

The Space to Remember, Connect and Support is an active and expanding international memorial site created by and for the relatives of former prisoners of the Neuengamme Concentration Camp.

For us as relatives of former prisoners, the suffering of those once imprisoned at the Neuengamme Concentration Camp is a core theme that has decisively shaped our own lives. We feel a profound connection with our persecuted family members and the site of their suffering. Here is where we want to honour their memory, regardless of whether they survived their imprisonment or lost their lives at the camp. Our aim is to tell their stories using individually designed posters.

To this end, our group has set up a printing workshop on the grounds of the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial. There visitors have the opportunity to show their solidarity by reproducing the posters, thereby creating a growing archive. The participation of relatives and the involvement of visitors help keep the memory of the prisoners alive. For us, commemoration is an proactive process that thrives on the diversity of those involved. To commemorate is to take action!

A growing archive

The poster motifs created by the relatives represent their own personal memories of these prisoners. The motifs themselves are collected and lasered onto printing plates. All the printing plates are then showcased inside an archive display case on the outdoor premises of the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial Site. The printing plates can be viewed at the site, where they are preserved on a permanent basis. Each year, new printing plates are to be added to the Space to Remember, Connect and Support as part of the commemorations marking the anniversary of the Liberation, so the archive continually grows.

Visitors to the Concentration Camp Memorial Site have the opportunity to reproduce the posters in the adjoining printing workshop. The art prints created will be displayed on poster walls on site. Visitors can also take the posters with them and circulate them beyond the Memorial Site itself. In this way, the stories and the memories of the people held prisoners at the Neuengamme Concentration Camp are kept alive and made visible time and again. The posters can also be viewed as an online archive on this website, accessible worldwide.