Mahnmal »Gleis 17«: Kai Wegner and Ron Prosor commemorate Jewish victims of National Socialism

White rose on the memorial »Gleis 17«: »We must never forget where anti-Semitism and racism can lead«

At the memorial »Gleis 17« in Berlin, representatives from politics and society commemorated the deportation of Jews during the Nazi period. The occasion was 85. Anniversary of the start of deportations from the capital. At Grunewald station, Berlin’s Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU), the President of the Federal Constitutional Court Stephan Harbarth and the Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor laid flowers.

In his address, Harbarth recalled that the start of the deportations in 1941 from Berlin and other European cities had marked the beginning of a “systematic mass destruction negating every humanity”. Lessons must be learned from this.

“We must never forget where anti-Semitism and racism, where prejudice, contempt and delusion, where mere indifference can lead,” Harbarth warned. We must never cease to realize the futility of war and violence, genocide, persecution and expulsion. There must also be no relaxation in the efforts against the still existing anti-Semitism.

Prosor said that the responsibility that this place places on us does not end with a memorial service. It only ends when Jewish life in Germany can be lived freely, safely and without fear. ‘

He told Bild newspaper that he was “looking with great concern” at the “coalition negotiations in Berlin.” Especially the government participation of the left. “The capital is Germany’s window into the world,” he added. “It would be a fatal signal if hatred of Jews and Israel again became socially acceptable here.” ‘

The left had clearly won the election to the House of Representatives on September 20. On Saturday, the party agreed with the Greens and SPD in the exploratory talks on the start of coalition negotiations for a future government. The talks are overshadowed by accusations of anti-Semitism against individual left-wing members.

The memorial »Gleis 17« at the Grunewald station commemorates about 10,000 Jews who were deported from there by trains from Berlin to extermination camps during the Nazi dictatorship. A further 30,000 were forcibly removed from Moabit freight station and about 10,000 from Anhalter station.

Part of the memorial inaugurated in 1998 are 186 steel casting plates. The dates and destinations of the transports are indicated therein in chronological order.