Friedhof Ofen

Cemetery description

In the Bad Zwischenahn cemetery, more than 650 victims of the German Nazi regime are buried in two burial sections that lie not far from each other. In one of them, a large stone cross marks the graves of 58 forced labourers of various nationalities, including, above all, those from Poland and the republics of the former USSR. Each grave has a stone cross that bears the victim’s personal data. Most died in the Medical and Care Institute (Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Wehnen) which, between 1937 and 1945, was a euthanasia and killing centre for psychiatrically sick patients or for those unable to do forced labour.
The other burial section is the final resting place for approximately 600 out of 1,500 victims of the Euthanasia Program who were also murdered in the Wehnen institute. At present, this is a memorial site for the patients killed in this centre between 1935 and 1945. The site is marked by a monument bearing this inscription: ‘The protection of the weak and the sick is the duty of the healthy („Die Schwachen und Kranken zu schützen ist die Würde der Gesunden”).’ There is also a symbolic stone in the form of a pillow, and more than 800 smaller stones that commemorate the murdered patients.

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