“We do not know the names, the faces, the identities, nor the unique stories of the individuals that we are laying to rest today. There are so many of them – victims of crimes committed in the name of science. This is something that we cannot forget. We have a duty to remember them.”

Professor Günter M. Ziegler, president of Freie Universität Berlin, opened the memorial service on March 23, 2023. This took place at the Waldfriedhof Dahlem cemetery as part of a dignified ceremony in which the individuals to whom the 16,000 bone fragments belonged were laid to rest without the use of religious or Eurocentric symbols.

The decision to bury the fragments was taken collectively by Freie Universität Berlin, the Max Planck Society (as the successor to the Kaiser Wilhelm Society), the Berlin Heritage Authority, the Central Council of Jews in Germany, the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, and other groups representing the victims. They had agreed that any attempts to assign the human remains to specific groups using invasive measures would essentially reproduce the racist methods and classifications of the past, explained Professor Ziegler.

Over 200 People Attended the Ceremony

Public and media interest in the topic has been consistently high. A digital event held at Freie Universität Berlin in February 2021 to present the results of the investigation into the human remains to the public was attended by almost 300 viewers.

The burial ceremony itself was attended by more than 200 people who gathered together in the courtyard in front of the cemetery’s chapel to pay their respects, flowers in hand. Attendees included members of the public who had heard about the ceremony in the media, members of survivors’ associations, local and state-level politicians, researchers and employees from Freie Universität, journalists, television crews, and photographers.

In remembering the past, those who spoke at the event made sure to also mention the future – and remind society of its obligations.

Paying Our Respects to Those Who Suffered

Dotschy Reinhardt represented the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma at the ceremony. In her speech, she found powerful words to remember the victims of National Socialism: “After arriving in the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, men, women, and children were selected and registered in the first of many inhumane procedures that awaited them there. Those who were not immediately murdered in the gas chambers were degraded to a number that was tattooed on their arm or, in the case of infants, on their thigh. People were robbed of their names, their identities – they were denied any claim to basic human dignity. In the eyes of the SS, the inmates were simply a source of slave labor and test subjects.” Body parts of those murdered at concentration camps were often turned into scientific “specimens” that, post-war, were then used as evidence of the atrocities committed by the Nazis.

Reinhardt also quoted the chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, Romani Rose: “Basic regard for our fellow humans demands that we pay our respects to those who suffered at the hands of others, who were robbed of their dignity and their lives, and that we remember their fates.”

Inalienable Human Rights and the Inviolable Human Dignity

Professor Ulman Lindenberger, vice president of the Max Planck Society, admitted that the Max Planck Society – as the successor to the Kaiser Wilhelm Society – had needed “time, a lot of time, to overcome the silence about the past, and especially about its own prehistory.” He further explained that scientists at Kaiser Wilhelm Institutes had exploited the unlimited research possibilities in Nazi forced institutions, such as psychiatric clinics or the Auschwitz concentration camp, in many different and cruel ways. In 2001, Max Planck President Markl had asked for forgiveness for the suffering inflicted on the victims of crimes in the name of science. Lindenberger added that Markl had asked for apology for the fact that the Max Planck Society had accepted its historical responsibility only belatedly. In 2001, the Max Planck Society had formulated a clear commitment for the future: “There must be no research goals that are considered so important and high-ranking that they justify the disregard of human dignity. Inalienable human rights and inviolable human dignity set limits to the freedom of science.” Lindenberger concluded saying, “For the Max Planck Society I can say: We will not forget. We will remember. This will be and remain our mission in the future.” The full version of Professor Lindenberger’s speech can be accessed online.

A Responsibility Borne by Us All

Dr. Christoph Rauhut, director of the Berlin Heritage Authority, said, “Our society as a whole bears the responsibility for the findings on Ihnestraße. After all, the people whose remains we are burying today were members of our society. The crimes committed at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics were also committed by people who were part of our society. With the knowledge of citizens and institutions who claimed to have had nothing to do with these atrocities.”

We Must Remain Vigilant

Born in 1947 in Namibia, Israel Kaunatjike has lived in Berlin for more than thirty years, where he works as an educational consultant specialized on the subject of German colonial history in south-western Africa from the time of apartheid to present-day Namibia. He also attended the memorial service at the Waldfriedhof Dahlem cemetery.

“As a representative of the Herero in Germany, I am very moved by this occasion. It is very emotional for me to think of our ancestors and accompany them on their final journey today. The practice of measuring the bones of Herero, Nama, and Rehoboth people, which also took place in the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics, serves to once again confirm the inhumanity that has been conducted in the name of science. The memorial that will be placed here should serve as a reminder that we are once again facing antisemitism, racism, antiziganism, and antiromaism today. This place of remembrance should act as a symbol for us all; a reminder that we must remain vigilant! May the individuals we are commemorating today finally be at peace.”

These were the words that Israel Kaunatjike originally wanted to use in his speech. To the great regret of Freie Universität Berlin, this wish did not reach those responsible for organizing the memorial service in time and Kaunatjike was unable to read these words aloud during the ceremony. His words are thus taken from his speech notes, generously provided to the university by Israel Kaunatijke after the service for their publication here.

Telling the Stories of the Victims – Keeping Their Memory Alive

Daniel Botmann, managing director of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, extended his gratitude to those who attended the memorial service: “You are helping to ensure that the stories of the victims continue to be told – or in some cases, that the stories are told for the first time.” With regard to the memorial service and burial, Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said, “Grief knows no personal background, religion, or affiliation. Today’s grief about past crimes creates the collective memorial sites of tomorrow. I am grateful to Freie Universität Berlin, the Berlin Heritage Authority, and the Max Planck Society for treating these remains from the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute with respect and welcome the chance to use this sad discovery as an opportunity to create a place of learning and remembrance for the future.”

Botmann then made the following plea to science and academia, “Call attention to the people who have been laid to rest here today. Make them visible once again in the places where mainstream society researches and learns. Ensure that their faces are a core part of any curriculum, and actively include them in scientific discourse.”

Two ongoing projects at Freie Universität show that steps are already being taken to answer this plea. The first project, “Geschichte der Ihnestraße 22” (History of Ihnestraße 22), originally gained momentum thanks to pressure from students at Freie Universität. Now the project is supervised by Dr. Manuela Bauche. She and her team work closely with associations for the relevant victim groups and are guided by an academic advisory board, as they research the history of the building and develop a concept for the interior and exterior that ensures this history is not forgotten. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the launch of the project exhibition has been delayed until 2024. Another program that raises a critical awareness of history is the master’s degree program in “Public History.” It not only prepares students for work at commemorative sites, institutions for political education, and museums, but also addresses how we might create new formats for conveying history to the public and what shape commemoration and remembrance should take.

Considering the task of commemorating these victims, which falls to us all as a society, Freie Universität’s president, Günter M. Ziegler, said, “We can never forget; we must keep their memory alive for generations to come.” He added, “We cannot allow grass to grow on the graves of those who suffered and died.”

This translation has been adapted from the German original that appeared in campus.leben, the online magazine of Freie Universität Berlin.