In bright sunshine, a new memorial was dedicated to the public on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, at 11:00 AM at the Goldfischteich in Berlin’s Tiergarten. It commemorates the Jehovah’s Witnesses (Bible Students) who were persecuted, deported to concentration camps, and murdered during the National Socialist era. With this dedication, a group of victims whose history long stood in the shadow of other chapters of German remembrance culture receives a visible place of commemoration.
Before around 1,000 guests, the ceremony made it clear: this memorial is more than just a new stop on Berlin’s path of remembrance. It is a symbol of freedom of conscience, religious tolerance, and the duty to publicly tell stories that are uncomfortable or have long been suppressed.
A Unanimous Resolution and Late Recognition
The German Bundestag had unanimously approved the memorial on June 22, 2023. At the dedication, President of the Bundestag Julia Klöckner recalled that such unity in parliament is not a given. For this very reason, the resolution carries special weight: the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses under National Socialism was to receive a permanent, dignified place in public remembrance. Video from 00:21:55
In her speech, Klöckner focused on the individual. Her thought was that the monument is dedicated to those who suffered bitter injustice and yet preserved their humanity. Video from 00:26:10
With this, Klöckner touched on a central point of the dedication. Jehovah’s Witnesses belong to the long-overlooked victim groups of National Socialism. Their faith, according to Klöckner, remained foreign and suspect to many, and their suffering was therefore less recognized. Furthermore, prejudices persisted after 1945, and the GDR even continued the persecution. Consequently, the path to a visible place of remembrance took a long time. This is precisely why the new site of memory is also a correction—making visible what was long overlooked.
Conscience Against Violence
In his subsequent address, Minister of State for Culture Wolfram Weimer placed a clear emphasis on conscience. He asked why dictatorships fear believers and why a totalitarian state perceives the quiet steadfastness of individual people as a threat. Video from 00:32:47
His answer aimed at the core of the memorial: those who say no for reasons of conscience withdraw themselves from the reach of absolute power. Jehovah’s Witnesses did not seek a political overthrow. They wanted to live their faith. Yet it was precisely this insistence on a higher moral obligation that made them dangerous to the Nazi regime. Video from 00:34:35
Weimer also recalled August Dickmann, who was shot at Sachsenhausen concentration camp in 1939 for conscientious objection. His story represents many others who were not prepared to surrender their conscience to the state. Video from 00:33:34
Why the Bible Students Were Persecuted
The National Socialists persecuted Jehovah’s Witnesses with particular severity because they refused the regime’s totalitarian demands. They did not give the Hitler salute, did not join the NSDAP, did not participate in the cult of the Führer, and refused military service for reasons of conscience. Many continued their religious activities despite the ban.
The speeches also recalled that Jehovah’s Witnesses helped other persecuted people. The example of Emma and Franz Gumz from Berlin stands for this. The couple supported the Jewish Deutschkron family; Emma Gumz was later honored as Righteous Among the Nations. Such stories show that resistance was not always loud. Sometimes it consisted of not participating, sharing food, hiding people, or maintaining contact with other persecuted individuals at great risk. Video from 00:23:21
According to the figures cited at the dedication, thousands of Jehovah’s Witnesses from Germany and the occupied countries of Europe were targeted by the National Socialists. More than 15,000 were persecuted or imprisoned, many deported to concentration camps. At least around 1,700 did not survive the persecution. In the camps, Bible Students were identified with the purple triangle. Video from 00:24:17
The Goldfischteich as a Historical Site
It is no coincidence that the memorial stands at the Goldfischteich. Jehovah’s Witnesses met secretly near this location during the Nazi era. Under the guise of a chair rental business, they exchanged information and maintained connections within their banned community. Video from 00:31:48
Berlin’s Senator for Justice Felor Badenberg recalled this historical context in her speech. The Goldfischteich is a place where resistance and persecution, self-assertion and state violence intersected. In August 1936, the Gestapo took action there. Several Jehovah’s Witnesses were arrested; the site became the scene of a wave of persecution that reached far beyond Berlin. Video from 00:48:19
Badenberg drew a clear lesson for the present from this. Especially from a judicial perspective, it is necessary to name injustice as injustice. For courts and public prosecutors did not just tolerate National Socialist injustice, but in many cases enforced it. The memorial therefore also points to the responsibility of the rule of law to protect freedom of conscience and religion. Video from 00:50:50
A Bronze Sculpture Like a Wounded Tree
The memorial was created by artist Matthias Leeck. The sculpture is five meters high and made of bronze. In the speeches, it was described as a tree whose branches have been taken, yet which stands rooted. This form was chosen deliberately: it is intended to show injury, but not end in powerlessness. Video from 00:31:03
Leeck himself spoke about the artistic conflict of bringing such a subject into a form at all. How can suffering be captured in bronze? How can a work commemorate persecution without reducing the victims to their suffering? His answer is a sculpture that strives upward. It appears damaged, but not broken. Video from 00:53:14
The surface incorporates light and shadow values from photographic fragments of concentration camp memorials and historical documents. In this way, the bronze becomes a kind of inscribed memory. Not as a direct depiction, but as a trace: visible, tangible, permanent. Video from 00:55:28
Particularly powerful was Leeck’s thought that the site should not be a closed space of mourning. People should not become paralyzed there. They should come, look, linger, and perhaps also enjoy the sun. In this way, the free life in the park becomes part of the answer to the tyranny of the past. Video from 00:57:32
Voices of Descendants: History Gets a Face
Among the most moving moments of the dedication were the reports from descendants of persecuted Jehovah’s Witnesses. They told of families where daily life was shattered by arrest, loss of work, loss of housing, and imprisonment in concentration camps. They spoke of fathers who did not return, of mothers who cared for their children under the most difficult conditions, and of children who were punished at school simply for refusing the Hitler salute.
The program included Clara-Denise Dörner, great-granddaughter of the persecuted Bruno Seide, and Julius Glaser, great-great-grandson of the persecuted Wilhelm Ruhnau. Their contributions brought history out of abstract memory: the persecuted became people again with families, professions, children, decisions, and descendants who speak their names today. Clara-Denise Dörner from 01:01:59 · Julius Glaser from 01:06:13
These personal memories gave the memorial a second level. Numbers are necessary to grasp the scale of the persecution. But only family stories show what persecution meant in the lives of individual people: the dismissal, the emergency shelter, the fear of the next visit from the Gestapo, the last sign of life from prison, the silence after the war.
These voices in particular made it clear why places of remembrance are needed. They do not just hold onto the past. They create a public space where descendants can say: This happened. And it belongs to our shared history.
A Memorial for Dignity and Freedom of Conscience
At the end, the memorial was officially dedicated to the public. Thus, a place now stands in Berlin’s Tiergarten that commemorates a long-overlooked victim group and simultaneously asks a very contemporary question: What is a conscience worth when power demands obedience? Video from 01:18:02
The answer of this memorial is quiet but clear. It lies in the five-meter-high bronze, in the history of the Goldfischteich, in the names of the persecuted, and in the voices of their descendants. It says: Human dignity remains inviolable. Even where a regime does everything in its power to break it.
Press Reports
- ABC (Paraguay)
- Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR)
- Berliner Morgenpost
- Minister of State for Culture and the Media (BKM)
- German Bundestag
- Deutschlandfunk
- dpa International
- Evangelische Zeitung
- Der Tagesspiegel
- Instagram (RBB24)
- Instagram (JW Pressroom)
- Jehovah’s Witnesses
- Jüdische Allgemeine
- Wewelsburg District Museum
- Libération (France)
- La Libre (Belgium)
- La Vanguardia (Spain)
- Villa Merländer (Nazi Documentation Center Krefeld)
- Orange Actualités (France)
- ORF Religion (Austria)
- RP Online
- rbb24
- stern
- taz
- TV5 Monde (France)
- The Denied (VEVON) – Press Release
- WDR 5 – Morgenecho
- Die Welt
- Yahoo News (English)
- zeitzeichen
Further information
Facts About the Memorial for Persecuted Jehovah’s Witnesses
Location: Goldfischteich in Berlin’s Tiergarten
Occasion: Commemoration of Jehovah’s Witnesses persecuted and murdered under National Socialism, often known at the time as Bible Students
Dedication to the Public: June 24, 2026
Bundestag Resolution: June 22, 2023, unanimous
Artist: Matthias Leeck
Design: Five-meter-high bronze sculpture, based on the shape of a wounded but steadfast tree
Historical Reference: Secret meetings of Jehovah’s Witnesses at the Goldfischteich, arrests by the Gestapo in 1936
Descendants in the Program: Clara-Denise Dörner, great-granddaughter of the persecuted Bruno Seide; Julius Glaser, great-great-grandson of the persecuted Wilhelm Ruhnau
FAQ
Why is there a memorial for Jehovah’s Witnesses in Berlin?
The memorial commemorates Jehovah’s Witnesses who were persecuted, imprisoned, and murdered for their faith under National Socialism. It makes visible a victim group whose history was long given less attention.
Where is the memorial located?
The memorial is located at the Goldfischteich in Berlin’s Tiergarten. The site was chosen because Jehovah’s Witnesses met there secretly during the Nazi era and the Gestapo made arrests there in 1936.
Who created the memorial?
The bronze sculpture was designed by artist Matthias Leeck. It resembles a damaged but steadfast tree.
Why were Jehovah’s Witnesses persecuted under National Socialism?
Among other things, they refused the Hitler salute, did not join party organizations, rejected the cult of the Führer, and refused military service for reasons of conscience. In doing so, they resisted the totalitarian claims of the Nazi regime.
What does the purple triangle mean?
The purple triangle was the badge used to mark Bible Students and Jehovah’s Witnesses in concentration camps.
