APPEAL: Concerned about the standstill in the realisation of the denk.mal Hannoverscher Bahnhof documentation centre, 44 people who have been working for decades on the realisation of this important memorial site have made an appeal to the Hamburg Senate and the private investor.
Dear First Mayor Dr Tschentscher, dear Mr Mueller-Spreer,
We, as those who have been campaigning for over two decades for a documentation centre in HafenCity to commemorate the deportations from the former Hanover railway station that took place between 1940 and 1945, are deeply concerned by news that the realisation of this project is at risk. Nothing less than the credibility of the city and the investor’s loyalty to the agreement are at stake here.
A brief look back: Over 20 years ago, a multi-year participation process began with colloquia and workshop discussions. Following the 2009 competition for the design of Lohsepark, the development of a basic concept and a modification of the HafenCity masterplan, funds were made available for the construction of the Hannoverscher Bahnhof memorial centre in the 2011/2012 double budget. HafenCity Hamburg GmbH announced that ‘completion of the documentation centre […] is planned for 2012/2013 once funding has been secured’. However, problems with the availability of the land and the sponsorship of its realisation delayed the project, which was supported by an advisory board, by several years.
As part of the completion of Lohsepark, at least a memorial site with name plaques for the more than 8,000 Jews, Sinti and Romani people deported from Hamburg was created with the joint along the tracks and the remains of the former platform 2. The inauguration on 10 May 2017 attracted a great deal of attention nationwide.
In 2017, an agreement was also concluded for the property intended for the documentation centre and its development along with an office building. For the exhibition space of around 1,000 square metres planned on the ground floor, an agreement was concluded between the buyer/investor Mr Harm Mueller-Spreer and the City for a 200-year rent-free right of permanent use. In December 2018, the Federal Government agreed to provide 50 per cent funding for the exhibition development.
In February 2020, construction began with a joint ground-breaking ceremony. At the subsequent event, you, Mr Mueller-Spreer, emphasised that this building project was a great honour for you and, in view of your own family history, also an inner obligation. When the media reported on the planned letting of the office space to Wintershall Dea AG at the beginning of 2021, this led to public criticism and protests in view of the company’s Nazi-tainted past. In the mediation process that was subsequently initiated, the investor’s offer to erect a shell construction of an exhibition building at its own expense at a separate location led to an agreement. You, Mr Mueller-Spreer, told the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper: „It was my heartfelt wish to move the documentation centre from the side to the centre of the park and create a memorial for future generations.“
After the donation agreement was concluded in April 2022, the right of permanent use was cancelled and the tender for the solitary building was decided in March 2023, the building application could have been prepared and submitted once the necessary tendering procedures and planning adjustments had been completed. However, on 30 September 2025, the Senate announced that the planning work was currently on hold ‘as the donor has interrupted it until tax issues regarding the deductibility of his expenses have been clarified’ (printed matter 23/1557).
Due to the delay that has occurred so far, the opening date of 2026/2027, which is still mentioned everywhere, is now completely illusory. Due to the expiry of the deadline for funding the exhibition project, which has already been extended to 2026, the Federal Government warns of a claw-back. Another problem is that the donation agreement gives both parties the right to withdraw from the agreement if planning permission is not granted by 28 February 2028.
The planned Hannoverscher Bahnhof documentation centre is the only memorial site in northern Germany to date that focuses on both the Shoah and Porajmos and shows how racist exclusion and deportations were embedded in National Socialist society. Despite all the progress made in memorial site work and the culture of remembrance, as reported in the memorial site concept presented by the Senate to the Buergerschaft [legislative assembly of Hamburg] in September 2023 (printed matter 22/13023), Hamburg faces the threat of serious damage if the documentation centre in HafenCity fails. It would be tragic and difficult to accept that even the very last of the few survivors of the deportations would not live to see the information centre they fought for. However, at a time when people are complaining about young people’s lack of knowledge of contemporary history against the backdrop of the rise of right-wing extremism and at a time when demands for an end to remembrance are growing ever louder, shelving a documentation centre that has often been promised to the associations of those affected and the general public would be a declaration of bankruptcy for Hamburg’s culture of remembrance.
The Hamburg Senate has spoken out in favour of rebuilding the Bornplatz Synagogue, which was destroyed as a result of the November pogrom of 1938, and in favour of examining the establishment of a Jewish Museum as a place to represent Jewish presence and history. The fact that this is ‘not a Holocaust museum’ is precisely why it is important to prevent the failure of the documentation centre. Otherwise, the history of persecution and deportation would no longer be remembered in Hamburg.
In their Coalition Agreement 2025, Hamburg’s governing parties declared under the heading ‚Remembrance for the future‘: “The past few years have shown how important it is that we endeavour to maintain an awareness of our historical responsibility. Our culture of remembrance is an essential foundation of our free and democratic society. That is why we will systematically implement the memorial concept and in particular […] realise the Hannoverscher Bahnhof documentation centre.“ (‚Coalition agreement between the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Green Party‘ dated 24 April 2025, p. 120)
This is why we urge you, Dr Tschentscher, and the Senate not to break your word. At the same time, we appeal to you, Mr Mueller-Spreer: put an end to the planning standstill, stand by the promises you made in the donation agreement and do no further damage to the culture of remembrance in your home city of Hamburg!
Hamburg, 27 January 2026