The “Dejudaization Institute” Memorial, Memorial sculpture in Eisenach, Germany.
The memorial is made of weathering steel plates with openings and text in German and English on both sides. The arrangement of the plates creates a visual effect that shows broken or interrupted meaning through the gaps in the material.
Eight Protestant regional churches built this memorial in 2019 to acknowledge their involvement with an anti-Semitic institute that operated between 1939 and 1945. The decision came decades after the events themselves, marking a turning point in public accountability.
The text comes from the Darmstadt Statement, a Protestant confession of guilt written in 1947, which still speaks about reconciliation and responsibility. Visitors can read how churches acknowledged their role during that period of history.
The memorial sits at the start of Bornstrasse with easier access than the original building, which sits on a steep slope. You can read the inscriptions from both sides and the location offers space for quiet reflection.
The steel plates are made with deliberate gaps that represent how sacred texts were altered and destroyed during that time. This visual choice links the physical material directly to the theme of spiritual destruction.
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