Mahnmal für die Opfer der nationalsozialistischen Gewaltherrschaft 1933–45 / Memorial to the Victims of the National Socialist Tyranny of 1933-45

Here, two wedge-shaped objects stand across from each other. They have inclined surfaces that slope downwards towards the center. The east element is shorter and has a smooth cut surface; the west one is taller and the surface is made up of stepped segments. The surfaces along the sides of both wedges are divided into seven alternating wide and narrow strips. On the top of each wedge, these joints form interlocking angular U, H, and cross shapes.
In general, Bandau characterized his personal relationship to this task as follows:
“My approach to the subject is characterized by restraint and concern… In my opinion, there cannot be an adequate depiction of this catastrophe that doesn’t represent an aesthetic trivialization… That is why I would like the abstract sculpture that I develop to serve as a lasting reminder to us all of the victims of the tyranny of 1933-1945… Text panels embedded among the paving stones will refer to the purpose of this sculpture… In my design, I knowingly distance myself from the notion of the monument in a traditional sense. I don’t wish to create an emotional representation atop a pedestal.”
The texts on the four bronze plates are translated as follows:
IS IT NOTHING TO YOU, ALL YOU WHO PASS BY? / LOOK AROUND AND SEE./
IS ANY SUFFERING LIKE MY / SUFFERING THAT WAS INFLICTED ON ME. / LAMENTATIONS 1:12
OATH OF THE SURVIVORS OF THE / BUCHENWALD CONCENTRATION CAMP ON APRIL 19, 1945: FOR THIS REASON WE VOW IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE WORLD ON THIS MUSTER GROUND, IN / THIS SITE OF FASCIST / TERROR: WE WILL ONLY CEASE OUR FIGHT / WHEN THE LAST / GUILTY PERSON STANDS BEFORE/ THE JUDGES OF THE PEOPLE. THE DESTRUCTION OF / NAZISM, DOWN TO ITS ROOTS, IS OUR MOTTO. OUR GOAL IS TO BUILD A NEW WORLD OF PEACE AND FREEDOM.”
THEY ARE STONE, COLD STONE. / SAXA LOQUUNTUR: STONES CAN / SPEAK IT. IT DEPENDS ON THE INDIVIDUAL, IT DEPENDS ON YOU, / TO UNDERSTAND THEIR LANGUAGE, THEIR SPECIAL / LANGUAGE, FOR YOUR OWN / SAKE, FOR THE SAKE OF ALL OF US. / THEODOR HEUSS
THE OPPOSITE OF LOVE IS NOT / HATE, THE OPPOSITE OF HOPE / IS NOT DESPERATION,/ THE OPPOSITE / OF MENTAL HEALTH AND / COMMON SENSE IS / NOT MADNESS, AND THE OPPOSITE / OF REMEMBERING IS NOT FORGETTING. / IT IS NOTHING MORE THAN CONSTANT INDIFFERENCE. / ELIE WIESEL