The "Atonement Church of the Precious Blood" in Bergen was built in 1961 as a Catholic memorial church. It was created on the initiative of Hildesheim Bishop Heinrich Maria Janssen as a place of repentance, reconciliation, and prayer. The church is intended to commemorate the immeasurable suffering and guilt associated with the crimes of National Socialism. Architecturally, it is deliberately symbolic: the main structure resembles a chalice, opening toward the former Bergen-Belsen camp, and the tower resembles a warning finger. Inside the church is an impressive figure of the bound Christ, representing the suffering of the victims.
In the following decades, the church developed into an important place of remembrance and remembrance. Regular services and commemorative events are held there, also in cooperation with the Bergen-Belsen Memorial. In recent years, however, the church has come under scrutiny due to severe structural damage and its future being in question due to high renovation costs. After lengthy discussions, it was finally decided not to abandon the church, but to preserve and restore it as part of the culture of remembrance.
The Atonement Church remains open to this day as a place of silence and reflection for all who wish to explore the history of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and the consequences of World War II. It is located on Hubertusstrasse in Bergen and is closely linked to the commemoration of the victims of violence and injustice.