with Helga Wilhelmer

In the summer of 1933, a concentration camp was set up in Esterwegen, just 45 kilometres from Oldenburg, to house political prisoners. One of these prisoners was the Nobel Peace Prize winner Carl von Ossietzky, who died in Berlin in 1938 as a result of his imprisonment in a concentration camp.

The memorial opened on 31 October 2011 on the site of the Esterwegen concentration camp to commemorate the 15 Emsland camps and their victims. In addition to the visitor centre, which houses exhibitions, seminar rooms, a library and a cafeteria, traces of the former camp can be seen outside.

The visitor programme includes a lecture on the history of the Emsland camps from 1933 to 1945, a guided tour of the camp grounds and an information booklet on the Esterwegen Memorial.

This can be followed by an individual visit to the exhibition in the information centre, which focuses on the life and suffering of the prisoners in the camps.