thumb|right|300px|Aerial view of Sonnenstein Castle (2025)

The Sonnenstein Castle is a castle in Pirna, near Dresden, Germany. It housed a mental hospital, which operated from 1811 to the end of World War II in 1945. During the War, it functioned as an extermination centre for the Nazi Aktion T4 program. It was shut down following the war, and reopened in 1970.

History

left|thumb|200px|Pirna and Schloss Sonnenstein, by [[Bernardo Bellotto (Canaletto)]]

Sonnenstein castle, located at Pirna near Dresden, above the river Elbe, was built after on the site of a former medieval castle. Sonnenstein castle was used as a mental home since 1811. Among other patients, Sonnenstein was the asylum in which Daniel Paul Schreber wrote his Denkwürdigkeiten eines Nervenkranken in 1900–2. Because of the advanced methods practiced there, it received worldwide acclaim and served as a model for other institutions. Sonnenstein Asylum was one of the first 'therapeutic asylums'; activity rooms included billiards and music rooms.

Nazi era

thumb|House 16, Schloss Sonnenstein, as a memorial.

thumb|left|Self-portrait by [[Elfriede Lohse-Wächtler, who was murdered at Sonnenstein Euthanasia Centre in 1940.]]

From early 1940 until the end of June 1942, a part of the castle was converted into a killing centre. A gas chamber and crematorium were installed in the cellar of the former men's sanitary (building C 16). A high brick-wall on two sides of the complex shielded it from outside while a high hoarding (billboard) was erected on the other sides. Four buildings were located inside the shielding. They were used for offices, living rooms for the personnel etc. Sleeping quarters for the men who burned the bodies were provided for in the attic of building C 16. It is possible that other sections of the buildings were also used by T4.

From end of June 1940 until September 1942, approximately 15,000

The small Saxon Psychiatric Museum in Leipzig, established in 2000, is also giving attention to the history of Sonnenstein castle.

Literature

Stiftung Sächsische Gedenkstätten zur Erinnerung an die Opfer politischer Gewaltherrschaft (ed.), Pirna-Sonnenstein : Von einer Heilanstalt zu einem Ort nationalsozialistischer Tötungsverbrechen (2001).

References

  • Memorial
  • Hotel School