Looming budget cuts: Saxony’s memorial sites sound the alarm

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To date, the Free State of Saxony has enjoyed an active landscape of remembrance and memorial sites, supported by public and civil society institutions and stakeholders: the persecution of people during the Nazi era and under the communist dictatorship after 1945 is commemorated in various ways, and academic research into these events is being carried out. However, trouble looms: with the Free State of Saxony’s next austerity budget, the network of memorial sites could face severe cutbacks – something that was still avoided in the 2025/2026 budget.

In view of the cuts now looming, the Advisory Board of the Saxon Memorials Foundation is calling for adequate funding for the objectives set out in the coalition agreement.

The agreement states: ‘We wish to continue supporting the work of the Saxon Memorials Foundation and to develop it further in line with needs. We place particular emphasis on developing our memorial sites into modern and inclusive places of learning. We support volunteers and full-time staff, such as victims’ associations, our diverse landscape of memorials and remembrance, as well as relevant initiatives in schools.” The draft budget, however, fails to fulfil this promise.

Dr Daniel Ristau, deputy chair of the advisory board of the Saxon Memorials Foundation, therefore wrote an urgent appeal on behalf of the advisory board regarding Saxony’s memorial landscape.

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Remembrance work and sites at risk – a new urgent appeal

To date, the Free State of Saxony has enjoyed an active landscape of remembrance and memorial sites, supported by public and civil society institutions and stakeholders. In various ways, the persecution of people during the Nazi era and the communist dictatorship after 1945 is commemorated, academic research is carried out, and a wide range of educational and outreach programmes are offered to all sections of society.

Alongside the memorial sites run by the Saxon Memorials Foundation, associations funded by institutions and project grants also fulfil this role in rural areas. All of this is increasingly under threat.

As early as last year, the draft budget that was tabled threatened the continued existence and further development of Saxony’s vibrant culture of remembrance. At least some of the harshest cuts were averted thanks to protests by those active in the field and the support of articulate representatives in the political arena.

However, looking at the draft for the Free State of Saxony’s new two-year budget for 2027/2028, the question now arises: have all the arguments put forward last year against cuts in the area of remembrance culture been forgotten again?

We must therefore note that:

• the budget allocations for the Saxon Memorials Foundation remain at the 2026 level, which, given rising costs, amounts to a de facto cut and also runs counter to the Foundation’s further development in line with the development concept adopted in 2024;

• the budget does not provide for the operation of the Sachsenburg Concentration Camp Memorial, which is to be taken over by the StSG and for which preparations have been underway for years;

• funding is also being cut elsewhere in the area of remembrance culture relating to the period between 1933 and 1945; for the Saxon State Working Group on Coming to Terms with National Socialism (sLAG) – the central network of institutions and individual actors for this period of persecution – the cuts amount to as much as 30 per cent. The situation is exacerbated by cuts to funding at federal and local levels.

For us as members of the Foundation’s Advisory Board, the culture of remembrance is not a luxury, but essential to democracy! We therefore call for adequate funding for the objectives set out in the coalition agreement.

It states: ‘We wish to continue supporting the work of the Saxon Memorial Sites Foundation and to develop it further in line with needs. We place particular emphasis on developing our memorial sites into modern and inclusive places of learning. We support volunteers and full-time staff, such as victims’ associations, our diverse landscape of memorials and remembrance, as well as relevant initiatives in schools.”

The responsibility for managing a large number of historical sites and legacies from both periods of persecution in the 20th century must be addressed through needs-based funding for Saxony’s memorial landscape. The StSG can fulfil its remit with the help of local stakeholders, based on adequate funding for the Memorial Foundation and the institutionally supported organisations, or through targeted project funding.

Ultimately, the planned cuts to independent organisations will have a disproportionately severe impact, thereby causing lasting damage to structures and once again placing the continued existence of independently run memorial sites, archives and initiatives for coming to terms with the past under acute threat.

We therefore urgently call for a revision of the current draft budget, specifically:

• the safeguarding of balanced and transparent funding for all memorial sites and initiatives for coming to terms with the past, in order to maintain and promote suitable programmes for education, outreach and the development of a multifaceted culture of remembrance;

• adequate funding for the StSG, enabling the continued implementation of the development concept, the takeover of the operation of the Sachsenburg Concentration Camp Memorial, and the provision of support and funding for independent organisations.

We are aware that it is not only the field of remembrance culture that faces immense challenges in light of the current budgetary situation. We therefore offer our full support for the consolidation of Saxony’s memorial and remembrance landscape, as well as for the implementation of the StSG’s development plan, and will continue to support this process constructively.

Dr Daniel Ristau, Deputy Chair of the Advisory Board of the Saxon Memorials Foundation