1 Permanent exhibition: “The 'Euthanasia Institution' of Brandenburg an der Havel”
The exhibition focuses on the significance of the Brandenburg Killing Institution as the site of an initial "trial gassing" and as a site of the systematic mass murder of Jewish patients. In addition to the historical context, the exhibition also provides information on the people murdered in the Brandenburg Killing Institution. 30 victims' biographies are traced with the help of documents and photos from family property.
2 Memorial site at the former location of the gas chamber
During construction work in the mid-1990s, the foundations of the former barn of the old prison were excavated and set up as a memorial site. The organizers of the “T4” program installed a gas chamber in the barn in late 1939 where more than 9,000 men, women and children were murdered by carbon monoxide between February and October 1940. The site hosts a memorial event for the victims of the Brandenburg killing institution held on September 1 each year.
3 Stelae with portraits of victims
The stelae with portraits of individual victims of the 'euthanasia institute' in Brandenburg an der Havel are representative of the more than 9,000 men, women and children who were murdered at this site. A fourth stela with a site plan allows spatial orientation on the memorial site.
4 Archive, library and seminar rooms
The building was constructed in 1790 as a poorhouse and hospital, and between 1820 and 1931 it served as a detention center for the Old Prison at Brandenburg an der Havel. In the building’s first floor, most of which is used today by the city administration, there are seminar rooms, the library and the archive of the Brandenburg an der Havel Memorials. The Memorials offer seminar and research days for school pupils and other groups in the context of its educational offerings.
5 Memorial plaque to the Victims of the Euthanasia Killings
The sculptor Franz Andreas Threyne created the memorial plaque on the outside wall of the Old Prison. It was installed in 1962. The relief recalls the victims of the “T4” program in Brandenburg an der Havel and calls for us to remember those who were murdered.
6 Brandenburg concentration camp 1933/34
The police established Brandenburg concentration camp in the Old Prison in August 1933. The number of prisoners rose within a few weeks to 1,200. After the dissolution of Brandenburg concentration camp on January 31, 1934, the prisoners were transferred to concentration camps in Lichtenburg and Oranienburg. At least three communist prisoners were tortured to death by SS men in Brandenburg concentration camp, including Gertrud Piter, to whom a memorial plaque was installed around 1950.
7 Information board on the euthanasia murders 1940
The history of the killing facility in Brandenburg and the Nazi euthanasia program is outlined on the plaque in front of the present-day municipal administration. The building complex was part of the former killing facility in 1939/1940. A map also shows the five other locations of the “T4” program gas chambers and their locations in contemporary Germany and Austria.
8 National Socialist crimes in Brandenburg
The board refers to other sites of National Socialist crimes in Brandenburg in addition to the euthanasia killing facility. The NS justice system killed 2,032 men from several European countries at the execution site built in the new prison in Görden in 1940. Thousands of foreign forced labourers were used in arms production in the city's various industrial plants.