The memorial commemorates the people who fell victim to forced sterilization, malnutrition and so-called “euthanasia” in Waldniel-Hostert during the Nazi era. It is located in the cemetery of the St. Josefsheim, an educational and nursing home run by Franciscan friars, which was established in 1913. In 1937, the provincial administration of the Rhine Province took over the home with around 600 beds as the Waldniel branch of the Johannistal provincial sanatorium and nursing home in Süchteln.

From 1941 to 1943, a so-called children’s ward, a Third Reich killing centre with 200 beds, was located here. 99 children died during this time - many of them demonstrably as victims of “euthanasia” measures. Most of them found their final resting place in the adjacent cemetery. In total, over 450 sick and disabled people were buried here between 1939 and 1945.

After the cemetery was closed in 1951, the Waldniel parish of St. Mariae Himmelfahrt acquired it in 1958 and restored it as a cemetery of honour in 1962. In 1988, the municipality of Schwalmtal inaugurated it as a memorial to the victims of the Nazi euthanasia program. The local secondary school took over the sponsorship in 1987 and since 1996 has organized an annual ceremony on 27 January, the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of National Socialism. In 2016, the Rhineland Regional Association decided to extend the memorial architecturally and artistically according to the design of the Viennese working group struber_gruber. It was opened to the public in 2018.

The adjacent protected buildings of the former St. Josefsheim are not open to the public. They are privately owned and will be restored over the years.