Nettelbeckplatz becomes Martha-Ndumbe-Platz: A sign of remembrance!

Nettelbeckplatz becomes Martha-Ndumbe-Platz: A sign of remembrance!

On October 20, 2025, Nettelbeckplatz in Berlin-Wedding was renamed Martha-Ndumbe-Platz. This renaming is a crucial step in promoting a decolonial culture of remembrance that seeks to honor the courage and life story of Martha Ndumbe. Ndumbe was a colored Berlin victim of Nazi persecution who was murdered in the Ravensbrück concentration camp in 1945. The new name not only honors their life, but also initiates a broader social discourse about Germany's colonial past.

Martha Ndumbe was born in Berlin in 1902, the daughter of a Cameroonian father and a German mother. Her life was marked by challenges: As a young woman, she had great difficulty finding legal work, which ultimately drove her into prostitution and petty crime. An important turning point in her life was her marriage to Kurt in 1932, who forced and exploited her. Despite her courage to report him, this decision had irreversible consequences for her future life.

The ceremony and its meaning

At the ceremony to rename the square, which was attended by around 100 people, it became clear that the debate about remembrance politics in Berlin is complex and controversial. Critical voices commented on the simultaneous dismantling of the “Ari” peace statue in Moabit. District mayor Stefanie Remlinger was not present at the event, which for some people present was a sign of the dissonance in the political debate about the culture of remembrance.

This renaming is part of a larger social process. The naming process was participatory and included over 500 suggestions from the public. Ultimately, the district council decided that the square should be named after Martha Ndumbe. The aim of the renaming is to make marginalized perspectives visible and to make public space more fair.

A memorial against racism and violence

Martha Ndumbe's fate reflects the cruel reality that many people had to endure during the Nazi era. She was stigmatized as an “anti-social career criminal” under the Nazi regime, illustrating the marginalized treatment of those who did not conform to Nazi social ideals. In 1944 she was deported to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, where she died in 1945, presumably of tuberculosis. Despite her ordeal, her mother's fight for justice went unheard and largely unrecognized.

Martha Ndumbe Square is intended to be both a place of remembrance and a memorial against racism and discrimination. The obvious naming attempts to address society's responsibility for its own historical entanglements and to keep the memory of the victims of National Socialism alive.

At a time when remembrance and the culture of remembrance in Germany are constantly being put to the test, Martha-Ndumbe-Platz is a multi-layered symbol of the courage to address the cruelty of the past. Against the background of the day of remembrance for the victims of National Socialism on January 27th, which also focuses on the systematic murder of six million Jews, the importance of such places of remembrance becomes even clearer. These days of remembrance are a central part of the German culture of remembrance, with over 300 memorials and Nazi documentation centers throughout the country.

The discussion about responsibility for the Nazi past and the confrontation with racism require society to constantly reflect. History requires courage and compassion, and Martha-Ndumbe-Platz, as an active memorial in Berlin, will continue to fight to ensure that the lessons of the past are not forgotten.

Development city reports that the renaming of the square is an ongoing part of the social discourse about the colonial past and that the new square should also make the perspectives of the marginalized visible. Martha-Ndumbe-Platz therefore not only stands for the memory of an individual tragedy, but also for a broader examination of the distortions of history. Further information about Martha Ndumbe's life can be found at Decolonial city tour. When considering the German culture of remembrance, it is important to include the voices of civil society in order to reflect on responsibility for one's own history in the present DW thematised.