A curt rejection

BERLIN/PARIS/VIENNA (Independent Report) - Hartmut Mehdorn, head of the German Railways (Deutsche Bahn AG) is resolute in inhibiting the use of the railways stations to commemorate the children deported by the National Socialists. As a result, he has rejected the conciliatory offer made by a high-ranking delegation. The correspondence in question has been made available to the editor. According to this correspondence, Mehdorn refused to meet the Central Council of Jews in Germany, the chairman of the German Confederation of Trade Unions (DGB) the Hessen and Thüringen district, as well as several survivors from the concentration camps in Auschwitz and Theresienstadt. In a personal encounter to come up with a mutual solution, those snubbed, put forward a proposal for a place where an exhibition could be held for the children who were deported to Auschwitz, via the German railway system. The French organisation "Fils et Filles des Dèporteès Juifs de France" said it would hold the exhibition, in an offer made to the German Railways. More than 10,000 victims were smuggled in cattle wagons from the German State Railways (Deutsche Reichsbahn); one of the destinations being Auschwitz. Amongst these victims were more than 500 children from Germany and more than 100 children from Austria. The rejection of the delegation has caused consternation in many Jewish communities of the Federal Republic and from the intiative "Eleven Thousand Children" (Elftausend Kinder).

Since the beginning of the year, the initiative has endeavoured to persuade German Railways to accept a French exhibition on the fate of around 11,000 murdered children.[1] They were captured by the German occupants in France, between 1942 and 1944, and sent to their deaths on the rail route over Paris, Saarbrücken, Mannheim, Frankfurt, Weimar, Leipzig and Dresden. The "German State Railways" made millions for the death trains ending in Auschwitz. The Jewish victims, of whom many thousand photos are now available, as well as shocking children's letters, can be identified in the lifework of the married couple Serge and Beate Klarsfeld (Paris). They succeeded in persuading the French State Railways (SNCF) in allowing them to hold exhibitions in a total of 18 French public stations, which were the former departure points of the death trains.

Discarding the idea

When Beate Klarsfeld offered the German Railways to take charge of the exhibition last year, the industry refused to hold the public commemoration at the German Railway's stations on the circular route and referred her to the train station museum in Nürnberg. In response, the German press accused the German Railways of wanting to "transfer onto a railway siding" the memory of having assisted the former Right wing party in murders, and wanting to bury their historical responsibility as quickly as possible.[2] The head of the synagogue community Saar, Richard Borg, requested that the German Railways "deal with there inherited history responsibly", instead of discarding the idea of the exhibition museum.[3] As a result, several hundred artists appealed to the board of directors of the German Railways with an "open letter" stating that it should reconsider its position of rejecting the proposal once more. International organisations are also amongst the artists. [4]

Confidentiality

In several public endeavours, including commemoration events in Frankfurt am Main, Freiberg, Halle and Weimar [5], the board of directors of the German Railways either did not answer, or they all made identical statements. It has therefore been a "request" for a long time that the German Railways engage themselves in "serious discussion" over the crimes committed by the Nationalist Socialist. However, public exhibition of the children photos and farewell letters are not included in this "request". With regards to this, the initiative "Eleven Thousand Children", a private amalgamation of German journalists and historians [6], proposed a face-to-face meeting with the board of directors of the German railways with a high-ranking delegation. The chairman of the German Railways industry was assured an encounter would be treated as strictly confidential.

How to deal with it

According to correspondence dated the 7 July 2005, available at german-foreign-policy.com, 5 public figures were prepared to "overcome the standstill" that had occurred as a result of the position held by the German Railways and offered to meet with Helmut Mehdorn at the industry's head quarters, or at another place in Germany. As stated in the letter, the members of the delegation were as follows: Ms Edith Erbrich (as a child she was deported with the state railway to Theresienstadt), Mr Serge Klarsfeld (lawyer and historian, President of the organisation "Fils et Filles des Déportés Juifs de France"), Mr Stefan Körzell (president of the German Confederation of Trade Unions (DGB) for the districts Hessen and Thüringen, through which states the death trains passed to arrive at Auschwitz), Mr Stephan J.Cramer (General Secretary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany) and lastly, Mr Arno Lustiger (guest professor of the "Fritz-Bauer-Institut" and co-founder of the Jewish community in Frankfurt am Main). On 27 July, the railway industry answered by saying they saw "no possibility of confidential co-operation". The delegation's refusal, passed on directly to Mehdorn, was given to a press officer to deal with.

Consternation

"We are filled with consternation that an offer for a meeting on the subject of the commemoration of the murdered children can be rejected in such a curt manner", says the initiative on request of the editor. Click here for excerpts of the correspondence between those in the initiative and the Chairman of the German Railway published by german-foreign-policy.com.

[1] click also here
[2] Raumzeit, 03.02.2005
[3] Zentralrat der Juden kritisiert Bahn AG; Saarbrücker Zeitung 28.01.2005
[4] for details click here
[5] 4. Mai in Freiburg und am 17. Juni in Frankfurt am Main
[6] Prof. em. Dr. Martin Bennhold (Universität Osnabrück), Lothar Evers (Support for Survivors of Nazi Persecution International), Prof. Dr. Gudrun Hentges (Fachhochschule Fulda), Anne Klein (Historikerin), Bernhard Nolz (Träger des Aachener Friedenspreises), Hans-Rüdiger Minow (Regisseur), Andreas Plake (Sozialwissenschaftler), Prof. em. Dr. Wolfgang Popp (Universität Siegen)


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