The column of justice is a legal monument which stands in front of the district court in Helmstedt. It is the work of the sculptor Siegfried Neuenhausen and was erected in 1985 on behalf of the Staatshochbauamt I in Braunschweig and the Landesjustizverwaltung. The 5.50 m high obelisk is made of high-fired dark brown, red and white-yellow clay and is divided into six relief rings. The pictorial elements of the work of art, designed as a place of admonition and learning, deal with principles of law and justice in scenes and allegories. This includes the topic of “Justice under National Socialism”, to which the obelisk deliberately dedicates a large amount of space, as well as the depiction of traditional and current tasks of the judiciary. The upper relief rings illustrate the legal system of the Federal Republic in the form of a picture sheet with references to the separation of powers in the democratic constitutional state, to the independence of the judges and with the depiction of individual scenes in the courtroom.
Family justice is presented with the judge's hands raised in protection. The braid that has been cut off refers to the task of the judiciary, not to let the law freeze, but to courageously strive for its further development. The reciprocal relationship between the law and the life of society is made clear with the image of the mirror that the judge holds up to the person seeking justice.
The position of the judge between the wheels of the law machine and the person seeking justice characterizes his task of doing justice to the individual in his afflictions in a technological world. The pillar is crowned by a sun disk, on the side facing the street, the word “freedom”, on the side facing the court the word “law”.
Law and freedom are mutually dependent; one is nothing without the other. "Between them stands - represented by the symbol of the sun - the truth that carries and holds both". (Christian von Heusinger).