In Commemoration of the Liberation of the Auschwitz Extermination Camp 70 Years Ago
Wreath-laying Ceremony on January 27 in Front of the Building Formerly Housing the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics
№ 016/2015 from Jan 26, 2015
On Tuesday, January 27, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz extermination camp on January 27, 1945, a wreath will be placed at Freie Universität Berlin in front of the building formerly housing the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics at Ihnestrasse 22. A ceremony will be held in recognition of the victims of Nazi tyranny, and attention will be drawn to the ethical obligations of science. The Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics existed until 1945. The notorious SS doctor, Josef Mengele, sent body parts of murdered victims from the Auschwitz death camp to be examined there. Currently, the building is used by the Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science at Freie Universität. A plaque as a reminder of the Nazi crimes also refers to the history of the building until 1945.
The Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics was founded in 1927 in Berlin, Germany. The Institute provided the scientific justification for the Nazi racial policy and was involved in numerous Nazi crimes.
In 1996 at the initiative of the former German President Roman Herzog, January 27 became an official German commemoration day for the victims of National Socialism. Nine years later, the United Nations declared the day as the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust.
Time and Location
- Commemorative plaque at Ihnestraße 22, 14195 Berlin; subway station: Thielplatz (U3)
- Tuesday, January 27, 3 p.m.