Former Sachsenburg Concentration Camp | Saxony drops the "limbo"

May 8th, the day of liberation, was commemorated as an official day of remembrance in Saxony for the first time this year. The state parliament recently approved a corresponding initiative by the Left Party. "But what is a day of remembrance without memorial sites?" asks the Nazi Victims' Association (VVN-BdA) in an open letter. In it, it points to acute threats to a memorial site that doesn't yet exist, but which, after decades of efforts, primarily by volunteers, seemed to be within reach: the memorial site for the Sachsenburg concentration camp, which was originally scheduled to open in 2027.

The camp, established in May 1933 in a spinning mill in the Zschopau Valley, was one of 103 early concentration camps in Saxony in which the Nazis imprisoned political opponents and other undesirable individuals, and it was the longest-operating of these camps. By the summer of 1937, around 10,000 people were interned and mistreated here: Communists, Social Democrats, pastors, and Jehovah's Witnesses. The camp is considered a "preliminary camp" for later large camps such as Buchenwald. Sachsenburg concentration camp also trained guards. Two of its directors later headed the Buchenwald, Majdanek, and Gross-Rosen concentration camps.

However, there is no memorial for the camp, which has been described as a "school of violence." After a memorial site established in the GDR was closed in the early 1990s, the site near Chemnitz effectively disappeared from Saxony's memory landscape. Volunteer initiatives did strive to commemorate the event , tracking down contemporary witnesses and organizing events and youth projects. However, there was no support from the state. As recently as 2017, an article on "Spiegel Online" referred to the camp as a "forgotten concentration camp."

Only recently did the matter begin to move forward. The city of Frankenberg, which owns the former commandant's office with several preserved prisoner cells, created a staff position, the state provided funding and promised inclusion in the memorial foundation, and in 2022 the federal government approved a grant to cover half of the originally planned five million euros. This has since risen to six million euros. With 1.5 million euros, which the Free State received from GDR party funds, initial construction work was carried out: the outdoor area was prepared, a historical inscription was secured, and an installation was erected on the base of the commandant's villa, which was demolished due to dilapidation .

However, the state wants to leave it at that. In the draft plan of the minority government of the CDU and SPD for 2025/26, further funding for the expansion was cut. This is one of numerous austerity measures that will affect not only youth, integration, and democracy projects, but also remembrance policy. Funding for the Saxon Memorials Foundation (StSG) for 2026 has been frozen at the 2024 level, which effectively amounts to a cut. The Saxon State Working Group "Confronting National Socialism" is to have its funding cut by 30 percent.

For Sachsenburg, the cancellation would mean that the planned second construction phase, which would secure the commandant's office and convert it into a visitor center and exhibition space, could not begin as planned. However, the building is in severe disrepair. Without immediate renovation, it will be lost, declares the Association of Memorial Sites in Germany, warning of a "waste of investment." The cancellation of the funding is considered "a major mistake for historical, social, and financial reasons."

Other institutions are also protesting. The nationwide Working Group for Memorials at Former Concentration Camp Sites, which represents 19 memorial sites in twelve German states, declared that the significance of Sachsenburg as a "crime scene for the destruction of democracy" cannot be overestimated. The International Committee for Buchenwald and Dora sees the cancellation of funding as a "fatal political signal to the far right."

"This important work must be completed."

Luise Neuhaus-Wartenberg, cultural expert of the Left Party

Hopes that funding for the Sachsenburg Memorial will still be approved now rest with the state parliament. The state parliament must approve the budget; the coalition needs at least ten votes from the opposition. The Left Party has announced that it intends to request the necessary funds in the negotiations. The memorial must be "permanently financially secured," said cultural politician Luise Neuhaus-Wartenberg: "This important work must be completed."

If the state actually backs out, the city of Frankenberg will also draw a line in the sand. Local CDU chairman Andreas Schramm has already announced in the "Freie Presse" newspaper that they would "completely terminate the project." He sharply criticized his state party, saying that the Free State's cancellation of funding for Sachsenburg was a "slap in the face" for everyone who supported the project and defended it against opposition "from the AfD, for example."