Sonnenstein Euthanasia Centre, Memorial center at Pirna-Sonnenstein Castle near Dresden, Germany
The Sonnenstein Euthanasia Centre is a memorial within Pirna-Sonnenstein Castle near Dresden that commemorates victims of the Nazi euthanasia program. The space includes permanent exhibitions, reconstructed cellar rooms and archives holding documents that trace the course of the T4 operation.
From 1940 to 1941 the former hospital was converted into a killing facility where more than 13,000 people died in gas chambers. After the war the building continued as a clinic until the 1990s when documentation work began and the memorial was established.
The site takes its name from Sonnenstein Castle, which overlooks the town and served for centuries as a care institution before its misuse. Today visitors walk through rooms where personal letters, photographs and documents tell individual stories and preserve memory through direct human testimony.
The memorial sits on a slope above Pirna and can be reached on foot from the train station via an uphill path. Group tours can be booked in advance, and the exhibitions are open to individual visitors during opening hours.
Sixteen memorial plaques line the route from Pirna station up to the site, each bearing texts that recall individual fates. Every plaque stands alone and invites visitors to pause while walking and reflect on what happened here.
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