Commemoration of the victims of National Socialism
Wreath-laying ceremony in the Park of the Victims of Fascism on 27 January
To mark the nationwide day of remembrance for the victims of National Socialism, an event will be held in Chemnitz on 27 January 2017 at 10 a.m. at the memorial in the Park of the Victims of Fascism. Mayor Barbara Ludwig will give the speech. She will lay a wreath on behalf of the city and the city council. Citizens and representatives of city council groups are invited to join the commemoration. Pupils from the sports high school will provide musical contributions to the programme.
At the commemorative event in Chemnitz, the focus will be on seemingly forgotten victim groups. In his speech, Tom Haus from the Lesbian and Gay Association of Saxony will recall the living conditions of homosexuals during the rule of the Nazi regime. Homosexuals were marginalised and persecuted, arrested and murdered. Homosexual prisoners in the Nazi concentration camps were at the bottom of the camp hierarchy. They were labelled with a pink triangle and even despised by their fellow prisoners for being gay.
Since the end of the war, the victims of National Socialist tyranny have been commemorated in Karl-Marx-Stadt/Chemnitz. On 27 January 1945, Soviet troops liberated the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp. Following an initiative by former Federal President Roman Herzog, 27 January has been observed in the Federal Republic of Germany as a day of remembrance for the victims of National Socialism since 1997.
In 1933 - immediately after the National Socialists seized power - the persecution of political opponents, Jews, Sinti and Roma, homosexuals and other groups began. In particular, the actions against the Jews became more radical and reached a temporary climax in the pogrom of 9 November 1938. The National Socialist regime victimised an incalculably large number of people throughout Europe. Millions of Jews were gassed, prisoners of war and political prisoners were exterminated through forced labour, the sick were murdered and hostages were shot.