After several years of careful preparations, Freie Universität Berlin is now ready to announce the opening of the Ihnestraße Memorial (Erinnerungsort Ihnestraße) at Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science. The permanent exhibition will shed light on the history of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics (KWI-A).

Now property of Freie Universität Berlin and used by the Otto Suhr Institute, the building at Ihnestraße 22 once housed the KWI-A from 1927 to 1945. Even as early on as the Weimar Republic this institute espoused and propagated eugenic ideas. Some scholars also used older colonial anthropological research in their work.

During the National Socialist period members of the institute used their research to bolster the racist, antisemitic, and ableist policies of persecution and extermination enacted by the Nazis and were implicated in such crimes against humanity.

The Ihnestraße Memorial addresses how science and injustice became intertwined at this specific site and commemorates the victims of this dehumanizing treatment.

The opening ceremony will take place on Tue 15.10., 16 h p.m. at Henry Ford Bulding and Otto Suhr Institute. Registration is open until October 1st, 2024 at: www.fu-berlin.de/erinnerungsort-ihnestrasse. Here, you will also find the invitation card with the detailed program of the opening ceremony. Please note that the event will be held in standard German.

The website of the Ihnestraße memorial will be accessible at www.erinnerungsort-ihnestrasse.de from October 16.