History of the memorial
Prior history (1949-1959)
In July of 1949 the Dresden chapter of the Vereinigung der Verfolgten des Naziregimes (Association of Victims of Persecution by the Nazi Regime) petitioned the minister-president of Saxony, Max Seydewitz, to authorise the creation of a memorial at Münchner Platz. This and subsequent petitions by the association to establish a memorial on the grounds of the former National Socialist execution site were to no avail. The official reasons given were the difficult economic situation and the scarcity of available funding. The real reason, which was never mentioned, was that the building complex remained in use as a courthouse, jail and execution site. In 1957 the Dresden Technical College (which in 1961 became the Technical University of Dresden) acquired the building and had it remodelled to house auditoriums and classrooms for the department of engineering economics. Only then was it possible to establish a memorial.
The Memorial in the Georg Schumann Building (1959-1992)
A board of trustees chaired by the rector of the Dresden Technical College designed the memorial, which was dedicated on 11 October 1959. The sculptural group 'Resistance Fighters' by Arnd Wittig was added later and unveiled at a ceremony in November of 1962. One member of the founding board of trustees was Horst Schumann, whose father had been executed at Münchner Platz. A leader of Communist resistance in Saxony, Georg Schumann was the dominant figure in the commemoration of the victims of National Socialist criminal justice at Münchner Platz from its inception. The former courthouse was renamed 'Georg Schumann Building'. A slab of Theuma slate where the guillotine once stood is engraved with the words Schumann is said to have uttered when his death sentence was pronounced. A 'Museum of the Antifascist Resistance Struggle' was opened on the occasion of his 100th birthday on 28 November 1986. In 1989 a stele dedicated to Schumann was unveiled in one of the former prison yards, which had been incorporated into the memorial in the late 1980s.
Münchner Platz Dresden Memorial (since 1992)
In 1992 Dresden citizens, some of them former prisoners, founded the organisation Münchner-Platz-Komitee e.V. (Münchner Platz Committee) as the memorial's sponsoring body. For the first time research, education and commemoration at Münchner Platz were expanded to include politicised criminal justice after 1945. On 7 November 1995 the sculpture 'Nameless - Faceless' by Wieland Förster was unveiled in the northeast courtyard and dedicated to the memory of 'those wrongfully persecuted after 1945'.
In 1994 the memorial came under the administration of the newly founded 'Saxon Memorial Foundation dedicated to the memory of the victims of political dictatorship'. After the 'Museum of the Antifascist Resistance Struggle' had been closed in October of 1996 due to serious historical faults, the Foundation organised a number of events and temporary exhibitions on the premises of the memorial examining the history of the resistance and the judiciary.
A permanent exhibition on politicised criminal justice during the National Socialist dictatorship, the Soviet occupation and the early years of the German Democratic Republic is currently in preparation. The temporary exhibitions on key topics now on display represent the building blocks of the future permanent exhibition. The memorial seeks to portray itself as a 'memorial within the university' from now on. Cooperation with the Technical University of Dresden has been intensified in all areas of the memorial's work. As a site of political persecution during National Socialism as well as under the Soviet occupation and in the German Democratic Republic, Münchner Platz has historical significance that extends beyond the region. In recognition of this, the memorial is financed in part by federal funding and in part by the Free State of Saxony.
