Antikriegshaus Sievershausen

The Antikriegshaus Sievershausen stands on the edge of the village of Sievershausen in the Lehrte district, a few kilometres east of Hannover. It occupies part of the old parish site beside the church, on ground where the bloodiest battle ever fought on Lower Saxon soil took place in 1553. The present building was erected in 1979 by young volunteers who dismantled a donated structure elsewhere and rebuilt it here. The house belongs to a registered association founded in 1979 to encourage peace work from Christian and humanitarian motives. Its work includes running a seminar and overnight centre called the Antikriegswerkstatt and hosting events in the Antikriegshaus itself. The site matters because it keeps alive the memory of war and the struggle for peace. In 1989 the DankMal was raised to honour those who helped victims of National Socialism. A decade later the MauerMahnMal was added, made from three sections of the Berlin Wall, to recall the peaceful end of a divided Germany. The Geschichtsfeld also includes a Deserteurdenkmal, dedicated since 1997 to people who refused to take part in state-ordered killing. Every two years the house awards the Sievershäuser Ermutigung, a peace prize worth €5,000, on Human Rights Day. Visitors find a modest seminar house with rooms for talks, workshops and overnight stays. Public events range from lectures and exhibitions to international workcamps that bring young people together. The surrounding Geschichtsfeld invites quiet reflection among three memorials. The DankMal-Archiv holds documents and books from the Nazi era. The Antikriegshaus works with schools and church groups across the region, offering peace education and acting as a meeting place for the wider peace movement.