There are places in the World that exist not to celebrate, but to confront. Memento, located in the small Polish village of Spudlow about an hour’s drive from Berlin, is one of them. It is one of the very few memorials in the World dedicated to the suffering of animals. That fact alone says something about where we are as a species, and where we still need to go.
Memento was created by Pro Animale, our trusted partner, a German animal welfare organization with more than 40 years of rescue work behind it. After more than 30 years of fieldwork, the founders felt compelled to make the suffering of animals visible in a permanent, physical way. When a Swiss animal lover left money in her will to the organization, the dream became possible. They purchased an abandoned cemetery with a ruined church, rolled up their sleeves, and built something the World had never seen before.
A ruin that speaks
What stands there today is a conviction made manifest in stone. The church ruin was not restored, it was deliberately left as a ruin. Broken walls, scattered stone, a structure that looks like something heavy happened here. And that is exactly the point. The building itself is a symbol, a reflection of what is being done to the creatures who share this planet with us every single day.
Inside the nave 102 memorial plaques cover the walls. Each one documents a specific form of suffering endured by animals: victims of the meat and dairy industry, animals used in entertainment, those caught in the fur trade, and many more. The creators were acutely aware that 102 plaques could never be enough. To honor what remains unnamed, visitors are invited to light a candle on the former altar of the church. However, those lights are not meant to bring closure, but to remind!
The old churchyard has been transformed into a Memory Garden. 83 steles stand among roses, each one dedicated to a philosopher, writer, activist or thinker who across the centuries has advocated for animals with genuine courage and conviction. A rose is planted beside each name. The garden invites visitors to slow down and sit with the ideas of those who understood that how we treat animals reflects the moral character of a civilization – as Mahatma Gandhi allegedly put it.
Next to the memorial visitors find an information center and a farm shelter, where over sixty sheep and goats live, many of them rescued. Geese and cats complete the unique calm atmosphere which one feels, amidst nature and fellow sentient beings.
One Step at a Time
Let’s be honest, Memento is not a comfortable place to visit and it is not meant to be. It is a place of reckoning grief, but also a place inviting the visitor to change his ways and to embrace kindness towards all sentient beings.
This is where the work of my Tikkun feels especially relevant. Tikkun Olam, the idea of repairing the World, does not ask anyone to fix everything at once. It asks each person to take one conscious step at a time. That step can be a candle lit in a church ruin in Poland. It can also be a different choice at the supermarket, a conversation, a donation, or simply paying more attention to the sentient beings around us.
my Tikkun was built around this exact conviction: that the World improves through small, deliberate acts carried out by people who came to appreciate that their choices matter. Not just for themselves, but for all sentient beings. Animals are not objects. They are individuals who feel pain, fear, and comfort, just as we do.
Memento puts its truth in front of visitors, my Tikkun asks what you do next.
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