Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: Stumbling threshold commemorates 290 euthanasia victims in Schwerin

Schwerin (dpa/mv) - Stumbling blocks commemorate individual victims of the Nazi regime, stumbling blocks to a large number of them.

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: Stumbling threshold commemorates 290 euthanasia victims in Schwerin

Schwerin (dpa/mv) - Stumbling blocks commemorate individual victims of the Nazi regime, stumbling blocks to a large number of them. In Schwerin, for the first time, a stumbling block will remind of 290 euthanasia victims, as the city administration announced on Monday. The Cologne performance artist Gunter Demnig will leave the plaque in the sidewalk in front of the entrance of the former Sachsenberg-Lewenberg sanatorium this Tuesday.

According to the State Center for Political Education MV, the Sachsenberg-Lewenberg sanatorium and nursing home was one of the central locations of the National Socialist medical crimes in the north-east. Between 1939 and 1945, patients were brought to Schwerin and murdered - at least 1,900 people fell victim to Nazi euthanasia.

According to the city administration, Demnig is laying stumbling blocks in Schwerin for the eighth time. They are let into the sidewalk in front of the victim's last self-chosen place of residence. In addition to three stumbling blocks for Jewish people, a stumbling block for a homosexual victim of the Nazi regime is to be laid for the first time on Tuesday. The stone commemorates Paul Junker, until 1938 manager of a large department store in the city. As a gay man, he was arrested and sentenced in January 1939. He died in prison on January 28, 1939.

According to the information, 82 stumbling blocks have been laid in Schwerin so far. Europe-wide there are 75,000.


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