Mahnmal KZ Columbia

The KZ Columbia Memorial recalls the history of the former Nazi concentration camp that stood on the northern edge of Tempelhofer Feld in Berlin. The site was originally built around 1900 as a military prison and, starting in 1933, initially served as a Gestapo jail. In December 1934, the facility was officially declared a concentration camp, which remained in operation until it was dissolved in November 1936. Because of its central location in the city, numerous prominent figures from political life were imprisoned here, including leading representatives of the Social Democrats and the Communist Party, as well as Jewish scholars and clergy. In total, around ten thousand people were held in this camp, where they suffered under inhumane conditions and were subjected to arbitrary violence by the guards.

Today, two memorials recall this dark past. Since 1994, a steel sculpture by the sculptor Georg Seibert has stood at the point where Golßener Straße meets Columbiadamm in the Kreuzberg district. This memorial replicates a house with prison cells and marks the proximity to the former camp grounds. Another place of remembrance is being created at the authentic site on the grounds of the former Tempelhof Airport. A temporary memorial consisting of a 42-meter-long lettered inscription will open there in September 2024. The letters, which spell out the phrase "Nicht mehr zu sehen" ("No longer to be seen"), are made of steel frames filled with brick rubble. This artwork is meant to encourage passersby to reflect on the crimes committed there and to fill the gap left by the demolition of the buildings during the construction of the airport.