Gomadingen

Gomadingen
Coat of arms of Gomadingen Coat of arms
Gomadingen
Location of Gomadingen within Reutlingen district
Coordinates:
Country	Germany
State	Baden-Württemberg
Admin. region	Tübingen
District	Reutlingen
Government
• Mayor	Klemens Betz
Area
• Total	45.85 km2 (17.70 sq mi)
Population (2013-12-31)
• Total	2,220
• Density	48/km2 (130/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	72532
Dialling codes	07385
Vehicle registration	RT
Website	www.gomadingen.de

Gomadingen is a town in the district of Reutlingen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. About 85% of its territory is located on the Swabian Alps. It's the district where the Grafeneck Castle [1] is situated. During the II World War, the castle was home of the Grafeneck Euthanasia Centre (German: NS-Tötungsanstalt Grafeneck), one of the main Nazi Germany's killing centres part of their Action T4 programme.

History

Built around 1560, the Grafeneck Castle served as a hunting lodge to the dukes of Württemberg. In the 19th Century, it was used as the Forest Service and in 1928 the Samaritan Foundation acquired it, setting up a handicapped home. In the times of National Socialism, the Grafeneck Castle served in as a killing center - the Nazi Euthansasieaktion (later T4 Action) killed 10,654 disabled and sick people through lethal injections and gas. They were transported mainly from southern Germany and burned on site in a crematorium. The French occupying forces returned the site in 1946/47 back to the Samaritan Foundation, whom reestablished it as a center for disabled and mentally ill people and still operates to this day. Already in the fifties, the development of the cemetery began as a memorial. In 2005, the documentation center Grafeneck Memorial was finally built.

Grafeneck Castle