REMEMBRANCE CONNECTS

The former Seelow (Mark) railway station building is a representative functional building from the 19th century in typical railway architecture. The reception building from the German Empire has permanently lost its function, although the station on the Frankfurt (Oder) – Eberswalde line is still in operation. The metropolis of Berlin and regional memorial sites can be reached by rail. The site also serves as a stop for regional bus services, and cycling and hiking trails (E 11) pass directly by the station.

As part of the funding project, the building was extensively renovated and converted into a history workshop with a documentation centre. On 200 barrier-free square metres on the ground floor, a modern museum-like place of learning and experience for recent regional history has been created, corresponding with the "Seelower Höhen" memorial site 300 metres away. A project flat and office and archive rooms are located on the upper floor.

The organisation responsible for the content of the new memorial site is the Geschichts- und Heimatverein Gusow-Platkow e.V. (Gusow-Platkow History and Local History Association). The exhibition concept deals with the decisive epoch of the pre-war, war and post-war years between 1930 and 1960:

"The exhibition focuses on the fate of a region in Brandenburg in the mid-20th century. It deals with the experience of the Nazi regime and war, flight, reconstruction and socialism. Like a magnifying glass, the exhibition examines how “big history” affected the small-scale Oder region and its inhabitants, what conditions the war found here and how it had a lasting impact. The planned exhibition offers a change of perspective compared to the established commemoration of the Battle of Seelow. The focus is on artefacts and eyewitness accounts from the region."

The city of Seelow pursued the following primary objectives with the project approach:

• Establishment of a history workshop focusing on the unique history of today's border region since 1930.
• Thematic and spatial addition to the museum exhibition at the Seelow Heights Memorial and expansion of its sphere of influence
• Establishment of a permanent exhibition and special themed exhibitions
• Establishment of a documentation centre for further research and presentation of this period of history
• Establishment of an office for network management for the cross-border tourism cluster ‘Remembrance connects’
• Networking with other places of remembrance as a tourist brand and overall package for the Oder-Warta region, in particular with the communication centre in Kostrzyn nad Odra and the centre for historical education in Słońsk.
• Sustainable change of use for a historically significant building

In 2023, the Seelow History Station Museum (Mark) was officially opened: www.geschichtsstation-seelow.de

Not far from the station is the Seelow Heights Memorial. The (victory) memorial to the Soviet soldier, including the war graves of his brothers in arms at his feet, provides a limited perspective for the memorial, which also contains a small museum and an exhibition of military equipment. This internationally significant site is to be expanded to include a regional perspective with the ‘History Station’ in the immediate vicinity, serving as an important addition to the ‘global view’ offered by the Seelow Heights Memorial.