In the Name of the People . . .

Don't ever forget what crimes have been committed under that label !

Never acquiesce quietly to injustice being done in YOUR name !


Today we visited the Plötzensee Memorial in Berlin, tucked right in among industrial sites, churches, canals, a scenic lake, lovely villas, and a charming lake, easily accesible by all forms of transportation. Nearly 3 thousand were executed there after summary trials by Nazi judges sentencing people to death for such things as saying Hitler was a nut. By those standards, I should have been sentenced and executed decades ago. And you? Think about it.


The following comes from the website of the memorial.

The Plötzensee Memorial Center commemorating the victims of National Socialism is a site of quiet remembrance. From 1933 to 1945, nearly three thousand people unjustly sentenced to death by the National Socialist judiciary were executed here. Today, the execution chamber is a memorial. The exhibition in the room adjoining it documents the practice of the National Socialist judicial and penal system.

One example of the many innocent people executed there "In the Name of the People":

Karlrobert Kreiten is born June 26, 1916, in Bonn as the son of a Dutch citizen. He grows up in Düsseldorf and is regarded as one of the most talented pianists of his generation. Contemplating the defeat at Stalingrad during a concert tour in Berlin in March 1943, he remarks to a friend of his mother that the war is lost. He calls Hitler ”a madman.” His mother’s friend reports Karlrobert Kreiten to the authorities, and he is arrested in July of 1943. The ”People’s Court” presided over by Roland Freisler sentences him to death on September 3, 1943, for ”subversion of national defense, aiding the enemy, and defeatist statements.” Four days later, Karlrobert Kreiten is murdered in Plötzensee.

The court documents of his "guilty" verdict and death sentence:



The photos are some of the ones we made today.