The exhibition provides an insight into the link-up of American and Soviet troops in Torgau on 25 April 1945

The exhibition tells the stories of those persecuted by the National Socialist military judiciary

View of the exhibition section on the military judiciary in the exhibition “Courage and helplessness”

With the Reich Court Martial and two large military prisons, Torgau was the most important centre of military justice during the Second World War. Among the tens of thousands of Wehrmacht prisoners in Torgau were German soldiers, many of them sentenced as deserters. Members of the resistance in Germany and Europe were also among the prisoners. Hundreds of convicts were executed, including directly in Torgau.The meeting of American and Soviet soldiers on the Elbe on 25 April 1945 put an end to the injustice of military justice in Torgau during the Second World War. After 1945, two Soviet occupation internment camps were set up in Torgau one after the other. One of the two was a collection camp from which German and Soviet convicts were deported to the penal and labour camps in the Soviet Union (Gulag). Finally, in 1950, the SED (Socialist Unity Party of Germany, German: Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands) dictatorship set up a prison for men in Fort Zinna. There was also a youth prison for 25 years.In Torgau's Hartenfels Castle, the Torgau Memorial tells the story of how military justice and the penal system were used during National Socialism, the Soviet occupation and the communist dictatorship in East Germany to silence political opponents and establish the dictatorship by force. The exhibition ‘Courage and Powerlessness’ provides information in particular about the fates of those persecuted and imprisoned in prisons and camps in Torgau during the Second World War and after 1945. It shows the conditions of imprisonment, sheds light on the perpetrators and spans the arc to the present day. The exhibition includes moving interviews with former prisoners and family members, impressive objects, media stations, photos and documents.The Torgau Memorial Centre offers guided tours of the exhibition and Fort Zinna as well as project days and training courses. At Fort Zinna, the most important historical place of detention in Torgau, a memorial by the Saxon Memorials Foundation commemorates those who were persecuted.

Germany

The Documentation and Information Centre (DIZ) Torgau, part of the Saxon Memorial Foundation, confronts the history of Torgau as a major hub of the National Socialist military judiciary during the Second World War as well as the personal stories of the inmates of Soviet special camps and East German prisons (including a youth detention centre) after 1945.

With the Reich Military Court and two large Wehrmacht prisons, Torgau represented the most important centre of the German military judiciary in the Second World War. Tens of thousands of the Wehrmacht inmates included German soldiers, who were convicted as deserters, as well as members of the European resistance. With executions numbering in the hundreds, the reign of terror did not end until the Americans and Soviets arrived on 25 April 1945.

After the war, the Soviet Army of occupation set up two internment camps in Torgau. One of the two was the central transit camp in the entire Soviet occupation zone from which German and Soviet convicts were deported to the penal and labour camps (gulags) in the Soviet Union.

Located in Torgau’s Hartenfels Castle, the Documentation and Information Centre (DIZ) Torgau recounts the ways in which the military judiciary and penal system were used to silence political opponents and forcible establish the dictatorship during National Socialism, the Soviet occupation and the East German Communist dictatorship.

In its exhibition “Traces of Injustice” DIZ Torgau follows the fates of the persecuted who were held in the prisons and camps in Torgau during the Second World War and after 1945. Documents, photos, reports and video interviews present their moving stories.

DIZ Torgau also offers guided tours and project days including special exhibitions and events as well as tours of Fort Zinna. It was the most important of the former military prisons located in Torgau and today includes a memorial commemorating the victims established by the Saxon Memorial Foundation.

Il sito commemorativo di Torgau

Schloßstraße 27, Torgau, Germany

Photos