Pirna-Sonnenstein Memorial

In 1940 and 1941 the National Socialists murdered 14,751 people in the former Pirna-Sonnenstein sanatorium, an institution that had been renowned for its humanist tradition. Most were women, men, and children with intellectual disabilities or mental illnesses. These people were killed in a gas chamber as part of the National Socialist programme of medical murders code named 'Action T4'. Under National Socialist ideology,
they were classified as “life unworthy of living.” In the summer of 1941, the National Socialists killed more than 1,000 prisoners deemed unfit for work or ill, from the concentration camps Auschwitz,Buchenwald, and Sachsenhausen

It is only since 1989 that public awareness of these nearly forgotten mass murders has gradually increased. In 1991, civically engaged residents founded the nonprofit organisation Kuratorium Gedenkstätte Sonnenstein e. V. with the goal of creating a suitable memorial. Since 2000, the Pirna-Sonnenstein memorial, part of the Saxon Memorial Foundation, has honoured the victims of the Nazi “euthanasia” murders. In conscious connection with the humanistic tradition of the 19th century sanatorium, a workshop for people with disabilities is located nearby.