Gedenkstätte Ernst Thälmann

About the museum

The memorial opened on August 18, 1969, the 25th anniversary of Ernst Thälmann's murder in Buchenwald concentration camp, in a former shop in the corner building at Tarpenbekstraße 66 in Eppendorf. The Hamburg transport worker and later chairman of the KPD (Communist Party of Germany) had lived in an apartment in this building with his family from 1929. The institution is run by the Kuratorium der Gedenkstätte Ernst Thälmann e. V., whose members work as volunteers; in its early years it also received funds from the GDR. Since 1985 the square in front of the building has been named Ernst-Thälmann-Platz.

The exhibition traces Thälmann's path from Social Democrat and trade unionist to chairman of the KPD, member of the Hamburg parliament and the Reichstag, as well as his eleven years of imprisonment until his murder in 1944. More than 500 objects are on display in 32 showcases and on 34 panels – photos, newspapers, posters, flags, badges, a uniform of the Roter Frontkämpferbund (Red Front Fighters' League) and furniture from the family's Hamburg apartment.

A separate section deals with resistance and persecution in Hamburg, featuring leaflets, camouflaged publications, a duplicating machine, Gestapo documents, Nazi court verdicts and records from Neuengamme concentration camp. The offering is rounded out by a library, in existence since 1982, and an archive on the labor movement and antifascism. The presentation reflects the perspective of a politically engaged sponsoring association.

Highlights

• Former home of the Thälmann family
• More than 500 exhibits in 32 showcases and on 34 panels
• Furniture from Thälmann's Hamburg apartment
• Section on resistance and persecution in Hamburg
• Library and archive on the labor movement
• Free admission

Permanent exhibitions

• Ernst Thälmann – Leben und Wirken – Documents, photos and objects on Thälmann's political career in the Weimar Republic, his imprisonment and murder, and on the KPD.
• Widerstand und Verfolgung in Hamburg – The fates of Hamburg resistance fighters, both women and men, illegal publications, and documents from the Gestapo, the Nazi judiciary and Neuengamme concentration camp.

Founded

1969

Operated by

Kuratorium der Gedenkstätte Ernst Thälmann e. V.

Admission & discounts

Admission is free.

Free admission; the volunteer work is funded by donations.

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