The monument to the grey buses by artists Horst Hoheisel and Andreas Knitz stands all year round in front of the Landeshaus of the Rhineland Regional Association (LVR) in Deutz. The grey concrete cast corresponds to the size of an original bus, which is divided into two segments and can be entered from the inside. As part of a travelling exhibition, the Grey Bus found its way to Cologne Deutz in 2011, where it stood until 2012, when it travelled on to other locations. The permanently installed cast was created to maintain and preserve a constant dialogue with the subject of the memorial.
The memorial commemorates "Aktion T4" during the Nazi era. As part of the National Socialist euthanasia programme, psychiatric patients from various sanatoriums and nursing homes were classified as "life unworthy of life". The people were picked up in grey buses disguised as the bogus organisation GEKRAT (Gemeinnützige Krankentransporte) and transported to concentration camps, where they were subsequently murdered.
As the successor organisation to the Provinzialverband Rheinland, which was responsible for seven sanatoriums and nursing homes during the Nazi era, the memorial also represents a confrontation between the LVR and its own history.
The memorial commemorates "Aktion T4" during the Nazi era. As part of the National Socialist euthanasia programme, psychiatric patients from various sanatoriums and nursing homes were classified as "life unworthy of life". The people were picked up in grey buses disguised as the bogus organisation GEKRAT (Gemeinnützige Krankentransporte) and transported to concentration camps, where they were subsequently murdered.
As the successor organisation to the Provinzialverband Rheinland, which was responsible for seven sanatoriums and nursing homes during the Nazi era, the memorial also represents a confrontation between the LVR and its own history.
Good to know
Eligibility
Suitable for any weather
for Groups
for Class
for families
Suitable for the Elderly
Directions & Parking facilities
From Cologne Messe/Deutz station, the monument can be reached on foot in 5 minutes.
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