Permanent Exhibition “Children of July 20, 1944”

In this exhibition, you’ll learn what became of the children who were deported on July 20, 1944. Information panels depict the children’s lives and provide many other details. The exhibition is located in the Bad Sachsa Tourist Information Center building and has the same opening hours as the Bad Sachsa Tourist Information Center. Admission is free.

The Story of the Children of July 20, 1944
The “Bremen” children’s home in Bad Sachsa was raided by the Gestapo in the summer of 1944, and the novice nuns, along with all the children and adolescents, were thrown out onto the street. Four houses were hastily prepared here to accommodate up to 200 children, ranging from infants to teenagers. Shortly after the eviction, the new “residents” of the home were brought to Bad Sachsa by the Gestapo.

The fathers of these children and adolescents had been involved in the attempted coup of July 20, 1944, and had been sentenced to death, or were supporters of the “Free Germany” National Committee who were being held as Soviet prisoners of war. The mothers were detained in concentration camps or prisons as “family prisoners” by association.

Life at the Home
All the children were given new names, and siblings were often separated. Everyone was forbidden to use their old names or talk about their real past, because each of them had also been given a new past.

Instead of the 200 children, only about 40 were ultimately housed at the “Bremen” children’s home, of whom only 18 actually remained in Bad Sachsa. Shortly before the end of the war, these 18 children were to be taken to the Buchenwald concentration camp, but an air raid prevented this. Shortly thereafter, after the Americans occupied Bad Sachsa, the children were placed under the personal protection of Acting Mayor Müller.