A contested monument to pharmaceutical abuse
Monuments are rarely static or universally accepted; their meanings can be disputed, reinterpreted, or even overturned. A case in point is the Contergan monument, erected in 2012 in Stolberg, near Cologne, where the headquarters of the pharmaceutical company Grünenthal are located. Grünenthal manufactured Thalidomide, first marketed in 1953 under the trade name Contergan as a tranquilliser. It was widely prescribed to pregnant women for morning sickness and insomnia despite insufficient testing. By 1961, more than ten thousand children had been born with severe limb deformities, and thousands of miscarriages had occurred. The drug was withdrawn that same year. What were called the“ Contergan children” faced not only lifelong physical disabilities, but also profound social prejudice. A criminal trial in 1968 ended without convictions, and the company eventually reached a financial settlement with the victims.
The Contergan monument features a bronze statue of a child without feet and with malformed arms. Its aesthetic value has been questioned, but the deeper controversy lies in its process: the victims of pharmaceutical abuse were never consulted about how their experiences should be commemorated— or whether they wished to be at all. Many saw the monument as a tokenistic gesture, a cheap substitute for genuine reparations. At the time of its unveiling, an estimated 5,000 – 6,000 people still lived with Thalidomide-related impairments. As they aged, their needs for carers, accessible housing, and mobility aids increased. Instead of providing additional compensation, the company’ s CEO issued an apology— an act widely condemned by survivors as too little, too late.
3. Poster produced in West Germany calling for buses and trains for all
The memory of social movements: the need for disability archives and museums
Commemoration involves much more than monuments. In addition to remembering sites of trauma and tragedy, it is crucial to commemorate the social movements of disabled people, including their struggles to frame their cause in the context of human rights. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities( UNCRPD), adopted in 2006, was preceded by decades of activism. In this respect, there are various parallels with the social movements of women, LGBTQI + people, and the civil rights movement in the United States. The most valuable objects that help us remember these struggles are those created by disabled people themselves— letters, photographs,
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