The Mahnmal Bittermark is a memorial place in , a borough in the city of Dortmund,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

."Ermordet in der Bittermark"
(retrieved September 12, 2014) The place commemorates about 300 people killed by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

in Bittermark city forest and in the

Rombergpark Botanischer Garten Rombergpark (Rombergpark Botanical Garden), or informally Rombergpark, is an extensive municipal botanical garden and arboretum in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With its total area of 68 hectares the Rombergpark is ...

between March 7 and April 12, 1945. The people killed were

forced labor Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

ers from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, members of the German resistance, as well as ordinary people whose careless utterance was judged to be "the dissemination of the opinion about the futility of the war and the insult of Hitler". The bodies were exhumed on April 19–21, 1945, six days after the US army had taken Dortmund. In 1953 the city of Dortmund approved plans of constructing a memorial place for the victims. Works began in 1955 and were finished in 1960.

References

Nazi war crimes in Germany Monuments and memorials in Germany Dortmund 1960 establishments in Germany Outdoor sculptures in Germany Sculptures of men in Germany Sculptures of women in Germany Statues in Germany {{NorthRhineWestphalia-geo-stub