Memorial

After the war, only a few memorial plaques in the courtyard served as a reminder of the Euthanasia programme and murder of prisoners. It was only in 1969, that a memorial was erected by the Upper Austrian Charity Association, in the rooms previously used as a registration office and the gas chamber.

In 1997, the Provincial Administration and the Charity Association decided to renovate the palace and, at the same time, introduce a new contemporary concept of a memorial. It was now possible, for the first time to actually identify the rooms in which the murder procedure took place as “authentic” and include them in the memorial.

The traces left of the Euthanasia Institute were laid bare and secured. At the same time a passage was cut through the rooms where the killing took place, making the mechanised  killing process visible, which made a radical change in the structure of the rooms. A walk way takes you through this passage, which shows the way. The rooms of death may be crossed through but not entered. In this way, distance is created to these historical rooms, which is of utmost importance in order to approach the matter at all. A critical approach is made possible to a place where people were killed. An emotional approach should be possible here but in no way forced.

At the end a room is set aside for stillness, meditation and prayer which was created by the artist, Herbert Friedl.

Outside, there is the former bus garage and parts of the garden where human remains from the crematorium are buried. These are integral parts of the memorial.

The former rooms used in the Euthanasia project now exhibit comprehensive information regarding the NS-Euthanasia project and the role of Hartheim in this project.