Gedenkstätte Bullenhuser Damm

About the museum

Toward the end of World War II, the school building on Bullenhuser Damm in the war-ravaged district of Rothenburgsort was put to a different use: from around the end of 1944 it served as a subcamp of the Neuengamme concentration camp. Hundreds of prisoners, mostly Polish and Soviet, were forced to clear rubble and do construction work from here.

In November 1944, the SS doctor Kurt Heißmeyer had ten girls and ten boys aged five to twelve brought from Auschwitz to Neuengamme to carry out tuberculosis experiments on them. To cover up the crime, the SS took the children, their four caregivers – two French prisoner doctors and two Dutch nurses – and Soviet prisoners to the school a few days before the end of the war and murdered them in the basement on the night of April 20, 1945.

The identities of most of the children only became known decades later, largely through the research of journalist Günther Schwarberg. In 1980 the association “Kinder vom Bullenhuser Damm” opened a memorial on private initiative; since then, roses can be planted in remembrance in the rose garden behind the schoolyard, and since 1985 a bronze sculpture there has commemorated the Soviet victims.

In 1999 the city of Hamburg took over responsibility and made the site part of the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial; today it belongs to the Stiftung Hamburger Gedenkstätten und Lernorte. The bilingual permanent exhibition opened in 2011 covers the school and subcamp, the medical experiments, victims and perpetrators, and how the crime was dealt with after 1945.

Highlights

• Permanent exhibition at the historic crime scene (German/English)
• Biographies of the 20 murdered children and their caregivers
• Rose garden with memorial roses, accessible at all times
• Bronze sculpture by Anatoli Mossitschuk for the murdered Soviet prisoners
• Digital Remembrance Game “Erinnern. Die Kinder vom Bullenhuser Damm” for school classes

Permanent exhibitions

• Dauerausstellung Gedenkstätte Bullenhuser Damm – Presents the history of the building as a school and concentration camp subcamp, the human experiments on the children, the murders of April 1945, biographies of victims and perpetrators, and how the crime was confronted after the war.

Founded

1980

Operated by

Stiftung Hamburger Gedenkstätten und Lernorte zur Erinnerung an die Opfer der NS-Verbrechen

Director

Dr. Kristina Vagt

Admission & discounts

Admission is free.

Free admission; donations welcome.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator: no information
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome: no information
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

According to the memorial, the exhibition is wheelchair-accessible; according to the Museumsdienst Hamburg, the entrance, first floor and restrooms are wheelchair-accessible. Website also available in German Sign Language.

Kids & families

Only partly suitable for kids

Memorial to the murder of 20 Jewish children and their caregivers; the educational program is aimed mainly at school classes and youth groups, the Digital Remembrance Game from 7th grade. No dedicated family programs mentioned.

Getting there & parking

Amenities & dining

The museum hasn’t published any information on this – please ask the museum directly.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this – please ask the museum directly.

Plan your visit