Halle Activists Honor 155 Jewish Victims with Sobibor Memorial Plaque
From Rusty Pipes to Remembrance: Halle Youth Fund Memorial for Sobibor Victims
With rusted pipes, old bicycles, and discarded metal scraps, an unusual memorial project took shape. Over the past months, young people from Halle have collected scrap metal and raised donations to finance a commemorative plaque honoring Jewish victims from their city. The plaque is set to be installed soon at the former Sobibor extermination camp—a tribute to 155 Jewish men, women, and children from Halle who were deported there and murdered.
The initiative is part of the "Diary of Emotions" project, in which young participants engage with the history of the Shoah and the fates of Jewish families from Halle. Project leader Andreas Dose reports that the teenagers organized collection drives for months to fund their mission.
The proceeds will go toward crafting a stone plaque, currently being made by a Halle stonemason. Once completed, it will stand in the memorial area of the former camp, serving as a lasting reminder of the deported residents of this Saale River city.
In June 2026, the young activists plan an educational trip to Sobibor. There, they will not only see the finished plaque but also deepen their understanding of the site's history—a place that marked the brutal end of the journey for so many of Halle's Jewish community.
Special attention has been given to the plaque's artistic design, created in collaboration with Hamburg-based comic artist Nils Oskamp, known for his graphic novel Three Stones. The image depicts two hands reaching for and holding each other.
The smaller hand symbolizes 16-month-old Chana Baer—the youngest known victim of the Shoah from Halle. She represents a stolen future and the immeasurable cruelty of the Nazi regime.
The larger hand stands for the families who, until the very end, tried to hold one another up—such as the Baers and the Sachs. The motif honors their bonds while serving as a defiant stand against forgetting.
For the young people involved, the project is more than historical research. Many have delved deeply into the victims' biographies, writing personal reflections—a "Diary of Emotions" capturing their impressions and questions. Their work ensures that the voices of the past are not silenced.
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