Since a Thingstätte was already being planned (but not executed) based on the concept of 1934 by the Berlin architect Schaller, [1]Alfred Rosenberg and Heinrich Himmler wanted to build a merely ceremonial site here. The “Totenwiese” near Verden, where Charlemagne according to legend had 4,500 Saxons executed to punish them for the uprising of Widukind was chosen as a building site. A “memorial site” was supposed to be built here in honor of the Saxons. However, after Hitler had “rehabilitated” Charlemange in his convention speech in 1935 the development of the Thingstätte as a central cultic site was abandoned. Instead, the facility was used as a SS training facility and a social center after 1939. 7
Start of construction / inauguration
1934-1935 / 1937
Architect / Staff
Wilhelm Hübotter, Dröge / R. Berkelmann, Hannover
Name historical / contemporary
Sachsenhain / Evangelischer Jugendhof Sachsenhain
Historical Use
| 06/21/1935 | Inauguration and solstice celebrations |
| 1935 – 1939 | Regular NS celebration site for solstice celebrations, number of attendees > 10,000 men from SS and State Labor Service |
| 1939 – 1945 | SS training facility and social center |
Use Today
Center for the youth of the Evangelical Church in Germany and playground / https://www.ejh-sachsenhain.de/
Interesting facts:
For the proposed memorial site, farmers of the surrounding region were supposed to collect boulders according to the number of people that had been executed here.[3] As a result, several megalithic tombs in the area were probably destroyed beyond repair.[4] The Thingstätte Verden was built in the “Germanic ground plan shape of a rectangle” and is designed rather scenically as a horticultural landscape than architecturally. Thus the boulders remained the only distinctive interference with nature. Other than that only the tree population was afforested and a few farmhouses were relocated from their historic origin to serve as SS quarters at the entrance of the square.[5]
[1] Stommer, Rainer, Die inszenierte Volksgemeinschaft, Jonas- Verlag Marburg, 1985, page 227.
[2] Kaldewei, Gerhard, Schwierige Schauplätze: (NS-)Kultstätten in Nordwestdeutschland. Eine Dokumentation zur regionalen Kulturgeschichte des Dritten Reiches, Isensee-Verlag Oldenburg, 2016, page 38.
[3] Stommer, 1985, page 239.
[4] Evangelischer Jugendhof Sachsenhain, Website: https://www.ejh-sachsenhain.de/geschichte.html [recalled on 03/17/2020].
[5] Stommer, 1985, ebd.