Hannoverscher Bahnhof

The Hannoverscher Bahnhof, used as a deportation station during the Nazi era, occupies a place in the history of Hamburg that has not been addressed for many years.

 

The Hannoverscher Bahnhof, 1931 / Museum of Hamburg History

The History of Hannoverscher Bahnhof

Hannoverscher Bahnhof, at first called Pariser and Venloer Bahnhof, saw various uses since opening in 1872: until 1907, it offered passenger and freight connections from Hamburg to the south. In 1906, the newly opened Hamburg Central Station took over passenger traffic. Afterwards, Hannoverscher Bahnhof functioned primarily as a freight station. By the 1920s, Hannoverscher Bahnhof had become dilapidated, and partial demolitions began in 1932. »

 

Jewish women and children from Hungary arriving in Auschwitz-Birkenau, May 1944 / U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

Hannoverscher Bahnhof as a Deportation Station

From 1940 to 1945, the station was used for deportations: in twenty transports at least 7692 Jews, Roma and Sinti from Hamburg and northern Germany were deported from here to the ghettos and concentration camps of eastern and central Europe – for most of them, a journey into death »

 

Responsible for the Organization and Implementation of the Deportations – The Perpetrators / Staatsarchiv Hamburg

Responsible for the Organization and Implementation of the Deportations – The Perpetrators

In Hamburg, a multitude of authorities and organizations were actively involved in the organization and implementation of the deportations in the name of the National Socialist regime. Responsible for the actual implementation was a close cooperation between Gestapo, the regular police, the central revenue department, and the Reich Railway. »