Almost 100 interested people gathered at the Poinger memorial for the 1945 death train in spring-like temperatures. The chairs provided are not sufficient for the number of people present. Many have to follow the event standing up.
But that’s no reason for the spectators to leave, even some passers-by stop: “More important than ever” is the annual commemoration of the events of that time in Poing, according to Poinger Mayor Thomas Stark (CSU).
The memorial opposite the train station was inaugurated in 2010 by decision of the Poinger municipal council. It commemorates the deceased prisoners of the Mühldorf concentration camp, who were transported by train in April 1945 under inhumane conditions. A total of 3600 people in wagons with up to 90 people each. Among them the contemporary witnesses Leslie Schwartz and Max Mannheimer, who have since died.
Some prisoners fled from the horror to the surrounding towns
The train stopped in Poing due to a locomotive defect. When the rumor spread that the war was already over, the responsible SS guards opened the wagon doors and left the train alone. Some fled from the horror to the surrounding towns – the main thing was to get away from the train.
But the war was not over yet. A German Luftwaffe unit and an SS squad went in search of those who had fled. Some prisoners managed to escape and were taken in by surrounding farms. But a large proportion of the concentration camp prisoners were not so lucky. 50 were shot dead by the German troops, 200 seriously injured.
Jörg Höllriegel reads a poem to a Ukrainian woman.
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
Despite the harrowing and near brutality of these events, the challenge of preserving the memory of them grows ever greater. There are fewer and fewer living contemporary witnesses who experienced the Nazi atrocities and can share their experiences with today’s generation.
For the Catholic pastor Philip Werner, the great importance of commemorating the painful experiences of individuals and society is derived from this: As a Christian, one accepts the world as it is, but one should not be passive about it. One must take responsibility for perpetuating the memory of past suffering so that it no longer happens.
Poing’s Mayor Thomas Stark (left) emphasizes how important it is to remember the horror of the Nazi era.
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
A responsibility that the sixth to eleventh graders of the Franz-Marc Gymnasium Markt Schwaben live up to: “You build an emotional connection to the victims, which makes the topic much more important for you,” explains Luzia the Q11. Under the direction of their teacher Anna Niedermaier-Fertig, the high school students have prepared a scenic reading that brings the events of the time closer to those present.
The noise of trains from the adjacent Poinger station forces the young people to speak in a loud voice: “Up to 90 people are crammed into each wagon. Our guards give us some bread, cheese and margarine, and we drink the rainwater that drips from the ceiling.”
It is important to Niedermaier-Fertig that her project group understands the background: “Fortunately, at our high school we live in a bubble where we are not confronted with anti-Semitic incidents, but that makes it all the more important to empathize with what happened.”
“Only creatures survive under these conditions,” Max Mannheimer is quoted as saying by a student
Max Mannheimer’s memories of the transport are also taken up: “Only creatures survive under these conditions,” the student Luzia quotes him as saying. 14-year-old Jan says: “When I first read what happened, I was shocked. Something like this must never happen again.”
The Poingen pastor of the Protestant parish, Michael Simonsen, makes it clear that a war is currently raging again in Europe, from which many people are suffering. A survivor of the Holocaust in Ukraine recently died in a hail of Russian bombs: “It is currently becoming clearer than ever that respect, human dignity and tolerance cannot be taken for granted – they require constant commitment.”