Memorial plaque to the victims of National Socialism, 2016, 1.34 × 1.34 m, bronze. KIT South Campus, Courtyard of Honor.
A square bronze plaque, measuring 1.34 meters on each side, memorializes victims of persecution during the National Socialist regime at Karlsruhe Polytechnic for ideological, political, or racist reasons, or injustice in other ways. The expulsions of Jewish and politically unpopular professors and academics began in spring 1933, resulting in about a quarter of the Polytechnic’s professors losing their positions. The plaque, dedicated by the KIT Presidential Board and Senate in 2016, assesses these persecutions as a breach “of fundamental values of humanity and tolerance.” Its central placement on the platform in the Courtyard of Honor on KIT’s South Campus exposes the Nazi persecutions as a conspicuous part of the institution’s history. By also formulating a caution, this memorial plaque broadens the scope of institutional history beyond the memorable and worthy achievements represented elsewhere in the Courtyard of Honor. It highlights the values essential to scientific institutions and society as a whole, which had been so egregiously violated under National Socialism, and which must be defended against offenses in future. kn