Mühldorf, Haberkasten August 28, until October 05, 2025

Through the eyes of art

Art exhibition to mark the 80th anniversary of WWII end

80 years ago the Second World War (WWII) came to an end with the “unconditional surrender”. Millions had died and Europe lay in ruins. For countless maltreated concentration camp prisoners, such as those in the Mühldorf camps, the end of the war meant liberation.

Over the past few months, a group of artists from the Kunstverein Altötting e.V. has been exploring the events and fates of this turbulent time.

Vernissage on August 25, 2025 at 7 p.m.

When? August 28 – October 05, 2025
Thu–Fri 2–5 p.m., Sun 1–5 p.m.
Where? Haberkasten in Mühldorf, Fragnergasse 3

Cooperation between the History Center and Museum Mühldorf a. Inn and our society “Für das Erinnern”.

Excursion on July 19, 2025

To the bathhouse in Waldram near Wolfratshausen

and

To the Pilgrim Monument near Waakirchen

On July 19, 2025, our annual excursion took us to the bathhouse in the Waldram settlement, formerly Föhrenwald, near Wolfratshausen. The second stop was the Pilgrim Memorial near Waakirchen, a memorial to the death marches.

The settlement of Föhrenwald was built, hidden in the forest, for workers recruited abroad by the Nazis for two explosives and munitions factories. It was disguised as a “chocolate factory.” After 1945, these workers’ quarters became a camp for displaced persons (DPs), mainly Jewish Holocaust survivors. After 12 years, they too had to leave the place, which was then renamed “Waldram”. The Catholic Church had acquired the site for a symbolic price, the institution wanted to erase its Jewish past.

The former bathhouse is now the settlement’s museum. It is run in an exemplary manner by an association. The history of this special place is now preserved and retold using multimedia. Visitors may listen to vatious eyewitness accounts.

At the 21st station of the route of Death March of the Würm Valley, near Waakirchen, sculptor Hubertus von Pilgrim also erected a memorial. Here in April/May 1945 SS henchmen hunted the starving and sick prisoners mercilessly and senselessly, chasing them around for days on end. Thousands died of exhaustion, were shot or beaten to death.

Mühldorf, permanent exhibition in the Haberkasten

Everyday life, armament, extermination

The district of Mühldorf during the Nazi era

Visit the permanent exhibition in the museum Haberkasten in Mühldorf.

Opening hours Thu and Fri, 2 to 5 p.m., Sun 1 to 5 p.m.
Where? Haberkasten in Fragnergasse 3, 84453 Mühldorf, Germany

Kloster Au, May 15, 2025

Lecture “Die weiße Fahne”

Final crimes in Bavaria in 1945 committed by the Nazis against people longing for peace

Speaker: Dr. Norbert Göttler, Dachau

In April 1945, the Second World War was nearing to its end. Yet, the danger to life and limb for many Germans was not over. Uprooted Hitler Youth and so-called werewolves lurked in many places. They carried out acts of violence with utmost cruelty, even immediately before the Allied forces arrived and for weeks afterwards. Targeting at peace seekers, they tried to prevent a non-violent handover.

Admission is free!

When: 7:30 p.m.
Where? In the Zehentstadel of Kloster Au am Inn

An event from the series “Erinnern ’45”—The end of the war in the southern district of Mühldorf

Organized by our association “Für das Erinnern – KZ-Gedenkstätte im Mühldorfer Hart e.V.”

Mühldorf am Inn, on May 7, 2025

The bunker site in Mühldorfer Hart. Arms race and human suffering

New edition of a classic

The new edition of the standard work on the bunker site in Mühldorfer Hart was presented by city archivist Edwin Hamberger, along with thoughts on the publication by the author and former Waldkraiburg history teacher Peter Müller.

Issued by the historical Society “Geschichtsverein Heimatbund Mühldorf”.

Sie können das Buch im Online-Shop der Kreisstadt Mühldorf erwerben.

Bunker Arch Memorial Site, on May 1, 2025

“This is our responsibility”

Once again, on May 1, 2025, a memorial service was held at the Bunker Arch, the site of severe suffering for thousands of prisoners..

The participants came from near and abroad. They were welcomed by Franz Langstein, chairman of our association. Greetings were given by Mühldorf District Administrator Max Heimerl, Dominique Boueilh, president of the Comité International de Dachau (CID), and Alexandre Vulic, Consul General of France.

This year’s memorial service invited representatives of the children’s and grandchildren’s generation: Laurence Steinmetz, granddaughter of concentration camp survivor Roland Thomas; Laurence Kaufmann, daughter of French prisoner Sylvain Kaufmann; and Judith Faessler, granddaughter of concentration camp survivor Max Mannheimer. They are witnesses of today and told us about their ancestors’ experiences and the lessons learned from them.

Not an accident of history

Laurence Kaufmann quoted her father: “The Holocaust was neither fate nor an accident of history, but the result of a process of rejecting others,” and his daughter added that this “is still and always will be the cancer that eats away at humanity and leads to the massacre of innocent people.”

Judith Faessler admonished us today: “Without knowledge of this period, we can understand neither our ancestors nor our present. Confronting it means not only understanding history, but also understanding ourselves, reconciling ourselves, and being prepared for new challenges. If we do not know what abysses lie hidden behind the protective dams of our democracy, we will no longer understand their necessity.”

Erich Finsches, the last survivor of the torture in the Mühldorf concentration camp, also had words of warning for the seducers of the present.

We want to continue to bear our responsibility in the future: Remembering the victims remains our focus.

The Freudenstein-Hofmann ensemble accompanied the memorial.

Southern part of Mühldorf district, March – December 2025

Erinnern 45—The end of WWII in the southern part of Mühldorf district

With Erinnern 45, a series of lectures and exhibitions, a group of people interested in local history, revive a time that has been mostly forgotten. In 1945, for the inhabitants of the villages near Mühldorf nothing was as it used to be.

American occupying forces, disorientation, fear, hunger, encounters with strangers and foreigners characterize the new everyday life. Many men were still at war or in captivity, that’s why women had to take over men’s work.

Displaced persons from the Sudetenland, Silesia, East Prussia and the Baltic states arrived in the villages: traumatized, without possessions, without a place to live. Tensions arose in cramped conditions, but also close relationships and friendships with the “refugees”.

At the same time, former concentration camp prisoners, forced laborers, orphaned children, bombed-out city dwellers and evacuees lived in the district. Insecure people, some of them wounded in body and soul, had to somehow find a new beginning.

Effects on today

Traumatic events leave wounds in the human soul, this is also true with village communities. Concealing them does not heal, not even after generations. They shape our ancestors, our families and our community to this day.

The initiators of Erinnern 45 intend to offer a close look at the local history of those days. Join in discussions with contemporary witnesses, listen to historical lectures, be part of hiking tours in search of traces, visit concerts or a Kulturmobil exhibition.

Dates (a selection)

October 7, 2025, 7 p.m., Gymnasium Gars
Swing, Gars and Graslitz horns. Music before and after 1945
Location: Gymnasium Gars

June 27, 3 p.m., Jettenbach
Injured—Lost—Displaced. The end of the war in Jettenbach
Meet Contemporary witnesses and talk under the lime tree in Jettenbach castle courtyard
Music: Fabian Beham, harmonica

15 May 2025, 7.30 p.m., Kloster Au
Lecture “Die weiße Fahne” by Dr. Norbert Göttler
Learn about final crimes in Bavaria in 1945 committed by the Nazis against people longing for peace.
Location: Zehentstadl Kloster Au

6 May 2025, 6 p.m., Mittergars
Hiking tour: In the footsteps of 1945 in and around Mittergars
Meeting point: Mittergars village square
At 8 p.m., a discussion with contemporary witnesses in the village hall

29 April and 6 May 2025, Gymnasium Gars
Classes 9a and 9b talk to the expellee Father Dr. Augustin Schmid

Find more dates on the “Erinnern 45” website (in German).

Gars am Inn, on 26.03.2025

Arrived, integrated and settled down

An evening of stories and memories

80 years ago, fundamental changes took place in Germany: the liberation from the Nazi dictatorship, the end of the Second World War and, in particular, the arrival of refugees and displaced persons from Silesia, Pomerania and the Sudetenland.

Steffi Franzler, Horst Hubl and Father Dr. Augustin Schmid talk about expulsion and arrival.

Musical accompaniment: D’junga Oidmuidorfa with Sophie Stadler, harp

When? 7:30 p.m.
Where? In the parish hall in Gars am Inn

An event from the series “Erinnern ’45”—The end of the war in the southern district of Mühldorf

Organized by “Für das Erinnern—KZ-Gedenkstätte im Mühldorfer Hart e.V.”

Mühldorf, March 9–April 27, 2025

100 years since Hitler’s coup

Art installation, exhibition and reading

On November 8, 1923, Adolf Hitler and an armed commando unit stormed a meeting of patriotic associations in the Bürgerbräukeller (today: the Munich “Gasteig”). To make himself heard, he climbed onto a chair and fired a shot at the ceiling. He shouted: “The national revolution has broken out. The Bavarian government has been deposed. The Reich government has been deposed. A provisional Reich government is being formed.” The coup attempt failed just one day later, yet the event marked the beginning of Adolf Hitler’s rise to power throughout Germany and the end of what was then still a young democracy.

See the Art installation “Everything Cried Salvation” and Visit the
Exhibition “Protocol of a Judicial Failure”

The installation in the courtyard near the Haberkasten was first presented at the Isartor by an initiative of artist Christian Sprinter and has since been touring Bavaria. It symbolically depicts the beginning of Hitler’s coup and thus also the beginning of the abolition of democracy through violence, propaganda, and intimidation. The chair, as the main element of the installation, appeals to society to resolutely oppose the right-wing extremist, anti-Semitic, and misanthropic tendencies of the present day.

The exhibition “Protokoll eines Justizversagens” (Protocol of a Judicial Failure) is on display on the first floor of the Haberkasten in central Mühldorf. It was created in cooperation with Christian Springer and the Bavarian State Ministry of Justice. The exhibition sheds light on the Hitler-Ludendorf trial before the Munich People’s Court in 1924 and makes it clear that the Bavarian judiciary had the opportunity and the duty to prevent Hitler’s triumphal march. It is a warning and an appeal to oppose anti-democratic tendencies.

When? March 9, 2025–April 27, 2025
Where? Installation in the Haberkasten courtyard, exhibition on the first floor of the Haberkasten

Reading

“Bayerischer Mob – Wie die Gewalt in die Politik einzog” (Bavarian Mob – How Violence Entered Politics)

With Christian Springer and Kerstin Schweiger

The reading is an intensive examination of the issue of violence against politicians. Where does the hatred come from? Why is there so much violence? What are the reasons behind it? What can be done about it?

When? March 19, 2025, 7 p.m.
Where? City Library in the Kornkasten, Mühldorf

See the Flyer

Organized by Mühldorf City Archives, Mühldorf Cultural Office
In cooperation with Geschichtszentrum-Museum Mühldorf, Verein für das Erinnern-KZ-Gedenkstätte Mühldorfer Hart, Mühldorf ist bunt

Kloster Zangberg, February 15, 2025

Training for our memorial sites’ guides

On February 15, 2025, we once again held a training course for the guides of the Waldlager, Bunker Construction Site and Waldlager memorial sites. It is important to us that our guides share their experiences: How do you prepare for such a sensitive topic? What questions might be asked by those interested? Are there critical situations and how do you react?—We were able to win Dr. Jascha März from the Bavarian Memorials Foundation as a speaker. He reported on the history of the Muehldorf subcamp complex and other concentration camps in Bavaria and their subsequent use after 1945.

The conference was organized by Für das Erinnern KZ-Gedenkstätte Mühldorfer Hart, Geschichtszentrum-Museum Mühldorf a. Inn (linked to German website) and Kreisbildungswerk Mühldorf (linked to German website).

Mühldorf, January 27, 2025

Holocaust Remembrance Day

The district and town of Mühldorf commemorate the victims of National Socialism at the town’s concentration camp cemetery.

Commemorating the victims of the Nazi regime also sends a message of democracy and tolerance. All those who cannot and do not want to forget are invited to attend the ceremony at the concentration camp cemetery in Mühldorf. District Administrator Max Heimerl and Mayor Michael Hetzl will represent the district and the city.

Begin is at 4 p.m., at the concentration camp cemetery on Ahamerstraße (next to the fire station).

The event is organized by the district and the city of Mühldorf.

Award for Mühldorf students in January 2024

Remembering a dark chapter in Mühldorf’s history

Five students from Ruperti Gymnasium in Mühldorf am Inn received an award for their social media campaign “No longer silent.” The young influencers have a message: “Don’t forget the dark chapters of history.” They want to give a voice to the victims of the Mühldorf concentration camp satellite camp.

“It is a call to keep the memory of their stories alive and not to repress the pain they suffered,” the students explain their commitment. “We must look at and actively engage with the past in order to understand the injustice and ensure that such horrors are never repeated. Ultimately, ‘No longer silent’ is not only a reminder of the past, but also an appeal to our present and future: each of us has a responsibility to fight against forgetting and to give the victims a dignified memorial.”

You will not be forgotten!

Since 1996, January 27, the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi extermination camp Auschwitz, has been an official day of remembrance for the victims of National Socialism in Germany. Auschwitz stands for the murder of millions, for the inhumanity and barbarism committed by Germans and in the name of Germany, primarily against Jews, but also against other ethnic groups.

In 2024, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation called nationwide on young people to engage with the memory of the Shoah and the Nazi dictatorship, but also with current issues of anti-Semitism, right-wing extremism, and xenophobia.

In memory at St. Johann Cemetery, on November 16, 2024

“We won’t forget you”

The local group “Gedenkstätte Kindergrab Burgkirchen” (Burgkirchen Children’s Grave Memorial) of our association cordially invited the public to the annual commemoration at St. Johann Burgkirchen Church. The commemoration honors the 160 children who were born in 1944/45 in the foreign children’s care center (near Keltenhalle) and subsequently died there after a short time as a result of deliberate malnutrition and inadequate care.

The commemoration was opened by Andreas Bialas, spokesperson for the local group. After musical interludes and speeches, Deacon Thomas Zauner gave the blessing.

We want to keep alive the memory of this horrific Nazi crime and restore dignity to the deceased children.

When and where?

November 16, 2024, 4 p.m.

Children’s grave in St. Johann Burgkirchen a.d.Alz