Statues - Hither & Thither

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Köln
Stadt Köln
Nordrhein-Westfalen

Hermann-Pünder-Straße
(Landschaftsverbandes Rheinland)

Denkmal der grauen Busse

Monument of the Grey Buses

(Wikipedia)

Horst Hoheisel & Andreas Knitz
2005

Description

Two-part monument for the victims of medical murders of the Nazi "Action T4" (so-called "euthanasia") in the Weißenau Center of Psychiatry (the former Sanatorium Weißenau). It consists of two concrete buses modelled after the transport buses of the so-called "Gemeinnützigen Krankentransport GmbH" (Gekrat - Common Ambulance Transport Ltd), with those 1940 and 1941 alone 691 patients from Weißenau were deported as 'unworthy of life' to the extermination center of Grafeneck. In monument is the quote "Wohin bringt Ihr uns?" (Where are you taking us?) written - the question of one man who was like thousands of other patients picked up by the Gekrat buses.

The monument consists of two parts:

One of two walk-through concrete buses (each is in original size, consisting of four concrete segments and a reinforced concrete floor slab with a total weight of 70 tons; overall dimensions per bus: 8.70 m long, 2.40 m wide, 2.50 m high) blocked since 6 November 2006 permanently the 'old gate' of the former sanatorium Ravensburg-Weißenau.
The second, identical gray bus changes location: Ravensburg - Nordstadt (Jan. 2007-Jan. 2008), Berlin - Tiergartenstraße (Jan. 2008-Jan. 2009), Brandenburg an der Havel (Jan.-Oct. 2009), Stuttgart (Oct. 2009-May 2010), Neuendettelsau (May-June 2010), Pirna (June 2010-Aug. 2011), Köln - Landschaftsverbandes Rheinland (Sep. 2011-Apr. 2012)*, Zwiefalten (Apr. 2012-July 2013), Grafeneck (July 2013), München (July-Nov. 2013), Kassel (Nov. 2013-Sept. 2014), Poznań (Sept.-Oct. 2014), Reichenau (Oct. 2014-May 2015), Braunschweig (May-Sept. 2015), and Winnenden (since Sept. 2015).

* After the Bus on 18/19 April 2012 left Köln for Zwiefalten, a cast reproduction of the mobile monument was placed permanently at the same location before the country house of the LVR as a sign of permanent confrontation with his psychiatric history, even after the Nazi is time.

Köln - Denkmal der grauen Busse

Sculptors

Horst Hoheisel (Poznań 1944), German visual artist (Wikipedia).
Andreas Knitz (Ravensburg 1963), German artist and architect (Wikipedia).

Sources & Information

Monument website, Denkmal der grauen Busse.
Wikipedia, Denkmal der grauen Busse.

Locatie (N 50°56'23" - E 6°58'12") (Satellite view: Google Maps)

Item Code: denw501; Photograph: 14 May 2016
Of each statue we made photos from various angles and also detail photos of the various texts.
If you want to use photos, please contact us via the contact form (in Dutch, English or German).
© Website and photos: René & Peter van der Krogt

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