The collective grave of the 528 prisoners of Katzbach concentration camp in the Adlerwerke

Bührmann’s memorial stone took the form of a sarcophagus with slightly inclined lid faces; a tomb design typical of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome that was predominantly reserved for prosperous, deserving citizens. The design symbolically gives the victims their dignity back, a dignity which had been taken from them in the camp. The sarcophagus has purposely been sunk into the ground slightly. This is supposed to give the observer the impression that an unknown force is pushing it out of the ground. This moment also stands for emerging from obscurity and for passing on the memory of the crimes in Katzbach concentration camp to subsequent generations. The proportions of the sarcophagus are those of a traditional Jewish coffin. The head and foot are endowed with circular reliefs arranged symmetrically. On one side is a loaf of bread, something that the prisoners longer for the most during their months in camp hell. On the other side is a butterfly, a symbol for the souls of the deceased rising to Heaven. On both of the slightly inclined lid faces are the following inscriptions engraved in German and Polish:

In memorial

Here lie 528 people

They died between August 1944 and March 1945 in the Adlerwerke,

in Frankfurt am Main. They were exterminated by work, forced labour.

They starved to death, died of exhaustion, of untreated illnesses,

were beaten to death. They died in the middle of Frankfurt.

The Adlerwerke was a sub-camp of the Natzweiler concentration camp.

 

The womb he crawled from is still going strong.

                                                     Bert Brecht

Joanna de Vincenz, June 2018