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European Memorial Sites: Core Declaration

Below we publish the text of a joint declaration signed by 32 European Memorial Sites connected with crimes committed by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during the Second World War.

The declaration highlights the responsibility of Memorial Sites to protect historical truth and respond to contemporary manifestations of hatred. It stresses that fulfilling this special mission requires their substantive, organizational and financial independence.

EUROPEAN MEMORIAL SITES: CORE DECLARATION

European Memorial Sites established on the grounds of places connected to the crimes perpetrated by the Nazis, Fascists, and their accomplices during World War II constitute a visible legacy of the history that shaped the foundation of post-war Europe.

As our societies undergo significant change, and as the generation of Survivors and direct witnesses gradually disappears, Memorial Sites carry a continuing responsibility: to raise awareness of the past, actively encourage reflection in our contemporary society, and signal and resist dehumanization, racism, antisemitism, and xenophobia wherever they arise.

In fulfilling this responsibility, Memorial Sites occupy a distinct position. Basing on rigorous research and historical evidence, they are detached from private interests, independent, and have a critical voice, including in relation to political developments and all forms of hate speech. This requires that Memorial Sites remain places for difficult questions and that they can offer warnings when this is called for.

This task can only be sustained where Memorial Sites are guaranteed programmatic independence from political authority: local, regional, national, or European. Their intellectual and practical autonomy should not be subject to political or budgetary pressure.

As custodians of a history that affected the whole of Europe, their independence is not solely an internal matter for their respective governing bodies, but a shared interest of Europe as such. 

To confront the growing challenges for democracy and peace, we call on all parties involved in public dialogue to respect this principle of autonomy.

15 July 2026

The signatories of the declaration

• Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum, Poland
  National Historical and Memorial Reserve Babyn Yar, Ukraine
  Death March Memorial in Below Forest, Germany
  Bergen-Belsen Memorial, Germany
  Memorial to the Victims of the Euthanasia Murders Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany
  Brandenburg-Görden Prison Memorial, Germany
  Buchenwald Memorial, Germany
  Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial, Germany
  Flossenbürg Concentration Camp Memorial, Germany
  Museum of the Martyrdom of the Citizens of Wielkopolska Fort VII, Poland
  Fossoli Foundation, Italy
  Gross-Rosen Museum in Rogoźnica, Poland
  Memorial Site Hartheim Castle, Austria
  Hodonín u Kunštátu. Memorial to the Holocaust of the Roma and Sinti in Moravia, Czech Republic
  Memorial and Museum Jamlitz in Lieberose, Germany
  Kazerne Dossin, Belgium
  Museum of the Former German Extermination Camp Kulmhof in Chełmno nad Ner, Poland
  Memorial Leistikowstraße Potsdam, Germany
  Lety u Písku. The Memorial to the Holocaust of the Roma and Sinti in Bohemia, Czech Republic
  Maison d’Izieu, France
  Mittelbau-Dora Memorial, Germany
  Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial, Germany
  KL Plaszow Memorial Museum in Kraków, Poland
  Memorial Museum Ravensbrück, Germany
  Internment and Deportation Memorial – Royallieu Camp, France
  Memorial and Museum Sachsenhausen, Germany
  Stutthof Memorial in Sztutowo, Poland
  Camp Vught National Memorial, Netherlands
  House of the Wannsee Conference Memorial and Educational Site, Germany
  Memorial Center Camp Westerbork, Netherlands
  Wolfenbüttel Prison Memorial, Germany
  Martyrs' Museum in Żabikowo, Poland