About the center

In memory of:

In solidarity with the relatives of the dead; the survivors of the bomb attacks in Cologne and Nuremberg and other victims of the bomb attacks who are no longer alive today; the threatened and injured victims of the robberies in Chemnitz, Zwickau, Stralsund, Arnstadt and Eisenach and the survivor of the attack in Heilbronn.

On the biographies of the NSU murder victims.

In memory of the victims of the NSU complex, a documentation center on the NSU complex was opened in May 2025 – the year in which Chemnitz is the European Capital of Culture.

Together with the traveling exhibition Open Process, educational and mediation offers, a research area, an archive and a meeting place – the Assembly.

The pilot project is based on many years of preparatory work by Saxon civil society; the following associations were and are significantly involved RAA Saxony and ASA-FF with the Open Process project. The development is being implemented in cooperation with the Open Society Initiative (IOG) from Berlin.

What is the NSU complex?

Between 2000 and 2007, the National Socialist Underground (NSU) murdered 10 people.
Many more people were seriously injured and traumatized in bomb attacks and robberies. The investigations often criminalized the victims themselves.
In 2011, the NSU exposed itself. To this day, the NSU complex has not been fully investigated.

Trauma, fear and suffering still characterize the lives of the relatives of the NSU murder victims and those affected by the attacks. The failure of the state to come to terms with the situation, racist hostility and social ignorance have left deep wounds.

It is above all thanks to the commitment of those affected, their strength and their resistance that the process of coming to terms with the past has gained momentum. This place exists thanks to years of civil society work. There is space here to commemorate the victims of the NSU, to listen to those affected and to continue working through the NSU complex together.

What is the documentation center?

In May 2023, the “Concept and Feasibility Study of a Documentation Center for the NSU Complex in Southwest Saxony” was published. This was created as a cooperation project between the associations RAA Saxony in Dresden and the ASA-FF in Chemnitz. The study was written by Jörg Buschmann, Dana Schlegelmilch and Hannah Zimmermann.

In summary, the authors of the study came to the following conclusions:

• The study proposes an institution that strengthens alliances based on the perspectives of those affected, makes marginalized perspectives visible through art and science, and imparts, expands and preserves knowledge.
• The study recommends Chemnitz and Zwickau as locations: both form a common experiential space in which the NSU was able to form and operate.
• The project is designed as a hub in a nationwide reappraisal network. The appropriate framework for its operation is provided by a foundation under private law, which can also be used as a basis for further initiatives to come to terms with the past.

The “Open Process” house in Chemnitz is intended as a laboratory for a documentation center, which will later be integrated into a nationwide network system; a proposal from the feasibility study published in February 2024 by the Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb). According to the plan, there will be several documentation and memorial sites in the medium to long term. The center in Saxony is and was financed with tax money from the budget approved by the Saxon state parliament.

Key modules of the project are an archive, the Assembly and the award-winning exhibition “Open Process” with its discourse and mediation program.

Archive, Assembly & Exhibition

“Offener Prozess – ein Dokumentationszentrum zum NSU-Komplex in Sachsen” was also planned as an archive, i.e. as a place of active preservation and research.

Documents and materials are to be stored here to enable in-depth research and analysis at a later date.

The facility is intended to be a place where activists and those affected by right-wing, racist and anti-Semitic violence can meet and exchange ideas.

The premises are to be used for educational work, participation and self-empowerment. In addition, the relatives of the victims of the NSU complex will be involved in the process of developing the pilot project in the best possible way. This part is therefore called Assembly.

The focus is on the “Open Process” exhibition, which has been on tour throughout Germany in recent years.

The exhibition documents the history of migrant resistance in Germany, tells of the struggles of the relatives of the victims of the NSU complex and takes particular account of East German migrant realities.

The main task of Open Process

Our aim is to present the NSU complex, its social entanglements and its consequences for the relatives and victims in a way that is understandable to a wide audience. We want to promote social debate on the NSU complex and see the project as a contribution to the commemoration of the victims of the NSU.

Among other things, we have developed an exhibition that is constantly being expanded. This creates a space for encounters and education. We have published a method manual and an exhibition catalog to accompany the exhibition.

Open process networks with existing reappraisal initiatives and incorporates their long-standing work. The project is intended as a contribution to a lively remembrance in which the perspectives of those affected by right-wing and racist violence are sensitized and the continuities and conditions of the emergence of right-wing terrorist structures are illuminated.

Why Chemnitz?

Gamze Kubaşık, daughter of the murdered Mehmet Kubaşık, answers this question:

“The city of Chemnitz plays a major role in the NSU murder series.
The perpetrators felt safe here and went into hiding for years.
This is also where they planned the murder of my father. The support of the local Neo-Nazi scene empowered them in their machinations and reinforced their ideology. Chemnitz must come to terms with its past and come to terms with it.

It is therefore extremely important to remember the victims here and to create a space for political education in this city.

In the context of the Capital of Culture year in Chemnitz, the documentation center on the NSU complex is a special opportunity to attract international attention to the topic – a chance to learn from the trial and make the nationwide documentation center a success. a chance to learn from the trial so that the nationwide documentation center will be a success.”