Location
Česko > Středočeský kraj > okres Benešov > Olbramovice > Olbramovice u Votic
Location Details: Railway station building
Coordinates
49.666664, 14.623937
Type
Holocaust monument / memorial, Relief sculpture, representational, Relief sculpture, with text, Wall plaque, exterior
Location
Killing site, Train station, Railway
Textual Content
Historical narrative
Languages
Czech
Whom the Monument Commemorates
Victims of Fascism, Death transports, Jewish victims
82 victims of the death transport
Iconographical Subject
Human figure
Material
Bronze
Dimensions
Width: 90 cm
Height: 55 cm
Commissioned By
Municipality of Olbramovice, Union of Anti-Fascist Fighters of the Benešov District
Dates
The bronze memorial plaque can be divided into two parts. At the bottom is a simple raised capital dedicatory inscription specifying the nationality of the murdered victims. However, the entire memorial plaque is dominated by a wide relief sculpture located in the upper part, which depicts three stylized figures of prisoners lying on top of each other, dressed in simple cloth. The lower figure lies on their back and has a slightly twisted head, seen from profile view. The expressive features of the face illustrate the hardships that the prisoners had to endure during the entire transport. The left hand of this figure is convulsively folded across their chest and grasps the right hand placed alongside their body. The left hand of another depicted figure, who is placed above the lower figure, is clasped in the left hand of the first prisoner, but their face is hidden from view. Their body is limply intertwined with the body of the third figure, whose head is placed opposite in the upper right corner of the relief, and in their profile we can again see sunken cheeks, deep eye sockets, a prominent nose and a mouth twisted in pain. It is safe to assume that the author of the sculpture was inspired by the preserved period photographs of the deceased directly from the Olbramovice death transport, which can be found in the Olbramovice town chronicle.
DNE 3. 5. 1945 BYLO V TRANSPORTU SMRTI
ZASTŘELENO NĚMECKÝMI FAŠISTY
82 SYNŮ A DCER SOVĚTSKÉHO SVAZU,
POLSKA, MAĎARSKA A FRANCIE
NIKDY NEZAPOMENEME
The memorial plaque commemorates the death transport – a train that initially carried approximately 4,000 prisoners from several internment sites, including Flossenbürg, Litoměřice and Terezín. The transport made stops along the way, for example, in Kralupy nad Vltavou, Roztoky u Prahy, Prague and then in Olbramovice in 1 May 1945, where it remained for several days. During that time, dozens of prisoners died or were murdered at the station and in the surrounding areas (see the database entries of the memorial plaque in Křešice, the mass grave in Libohošť, the grave of the victims in the Olbramovice cemetery).
The transport was ordered to leave on 6 May 1945, but for reasons still unknown, SS-Hauptsturmführer Friedrich Wilhelm Graun arrived at the Olbramovice railway station accompanied by his wife Margareta Graun and a Waffen SS unit. He ordered the shooting of the prisoners in the open carriages. Historical sources state different numbers of the dead, but eight prisoners were probably shot there. The memorial plaque is dedicated to a total of 82 victims from different countries, among whom were probably also Jewish victims. According to the Olbramovice chronicle, the victims also came from other countries, such as Belgium and the Netherlands, in addition to the countries listed on the plaque.
The memorial plaque was created in 1977 and was unveiled during the anniversary of the end of World War II in May of that year, with the participation of local representatives of the municipality and the Union of Anti-Fascist Fighters of the Benešov District and the general public. Since then, the memorial plaque has been the property of the municipality of Olbramovice.
Archive of the Security Forces of the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic, sig. 325-164-2.
Archive of the Security Forces of the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic, sig. 325-16-4.
National Archive, coll. Czechoslovak Government Commission for the Prosecution of Nazi Crimes, Historical record of Friedrich Graun.
State District Archive in Benešov, coll. Local National Committee of Olbramovice Fund (unorganized), records of the meeting of the council of the Local National Committee of 13 April 1977 and 21 April 1977.
https://ekroniky.cz/obec-olbramovice/#flipbook-df_6861/207/
https://ekroniky.cz/obec-olbramovice/#flipbook-df_6861/145/
https://ekroniky.cz/obec-olbramovice/#flipbook-df_6861/91/
https://ekroniky.cz/obec-olbramovice/#flipbook-df_6861/93/
https://ekroniky.cz/obec-olbramovice/#flipbook-df_6861/71/
https://ekroniky.cz/obec-olbramovice/#flipbook-df_6861/73/
Stanislav Staněk, Evakuace území mezi Vltavou a Sázavou za okupace, in: Sborník vlastivědných prací z Podblanicka, Benešov 1973, pp. 179–203.
Jaroslava Hoffmannová, Poválečná obnova území bývalého cvičiště zbraní SS Benešov, in: Sborník vlastivědných prací z Podblanicka, Benešov 1987, pp. 261–281.
Monika Sedláková, Pobočka koncentračního tábora Flossenbürg ve vystěhovaných Vrchotových Janovicích v letech 1944–1945, in: Sborník vlastivědných prací z Podblanicka, Benešov 2007, pp. 311–328.
Stanislav Kokoška, Cvičiště zbraní SS Bohmen 1942–1945, in: Sborník vlastivědných prací z Podblanicka, Benešov 1986, pp. 271–294.
Pavla Plachá, Osvobozený transport, Paměť a dějiny, 2018, No. 1, pp. 70–83.
E-mail correspondence with Irena Šopejstalová, September 2024.
E-mail correspondence with the Czech Union of Anti-Fascist Fighters in Benešov, October 2024.
Zuzana Duchková