Holocaust Education, MEMO Study, Program for LGBTIQ Self-Organizations
 
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EDITION 10/2022
 

Nearly one in ten respondents feels that "comparisons between adversity faced by the German population during the coronavirus pandemic with the suffering of people during the time of National Socialism are legitimate [...]." The fifth part of the MEMO study reveals: The Covid-19 pandemic has rendered historical revisionist and antisemitic attitudes more visible.

 

Right-wing extremist, antisemitic, and conspiracy-narrating ideologies instrumentalize Germany's National Socialist past; they relativize the suffering of victims of National Socialism and sometimes reinterpret it. The study, funded by the EVZ Foundation, provides even more findings: It has been shown that the memory of World War II by Germans are largely limited to Western Europe. The dimensions of the war of extermination and murderous antisemitism in the East are not perceived by many people.

Together with our partners, we are therefore actively working on these perceptions. This newsletter explains how projects use a great variety of resources to support remembrance and to combat antisemitism: From an antisemitism-critical educational initiative, to an interactive digital reporting platform for antisemitic incidents.

Continue to engage with us! 

Dr. Andrea Despot
CEO of the EVZ Foundation



PS.
We congratulate the Center for Civil Liberties, MEMORIAL and human rights lawyer Ales Bialiatski on receiving the Nobel Peace Prize!
The commitment to human rights, dialogue and a peaceful and value-based Europe unites us - in the past, present and future.

 
 
News
 
COOPERATIONS
International Exchange for Memory and Future

Two new collaborations for the EVZ Foundation: Together with the Franco-German Youth Office (DFJW) and the German-Israeli Future Forum (DIZF), the Foundation will promote transnational memory and future work. What does this mean in concrete terms? In the Policy Lab "Change Makers," for example, young people from Israel and Germany address future and safety issues in both countries.

More about exchange & networking   Pfeil
 
SERVICE
Publications, Videos, and Audio Formats for Download: The EVZ Foundation's Info and Media Library

Have you ever browsed the EVZ Foundation's info and media library? This is where you will find selected publications, educational materials, videos, and audios from the Foundation and its project partners linked for you to download. Have a look! "Im märkischen Sand", "Train to Sachsenhausen", "Living Memorials", "RYMEcast", "Games and Culture of Remembrance", the "Forced Labor Archive" – these and other educational materials are waiting for you to discover them!

Browse now   Pfeil
 
 
 
Current job offers of the Foundation EVZ
 
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

MEET UP! Youth for Partnership 2023

MEET UP! Youth for Partnership
 
With the "MEET UP! Youth for Partnership" funding program, the EVZ Foundation and the Federal Foreign Office support international youth projects in Germany, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine. In this way, bilateral and multinational encounters between young people between the ages of 14 and 35 can be supported in the target countries. The call for applications will run until October 31, 2022 for the new year!

Apply now   Pfeil
 
MEMO STUDY V

Memory of World War II Influenced by Events in Western Europe

The fifth MEMO study by the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence (IKG) at the Bielefeld University addresses questions about the culture of remembrance of National Socialism already known from previous studies, and in this way it makes developmental trends visible. MEMO V also focuses on topics which have received less attention in the past editions. The study specifically asks about the societal remembrance of Sinti and Roma who were murdered during the National Socialist era and focuses on the European context of World War II. The result: German people's memories of World War II are strongly influenced by events and locations in Western Europe!

Read now   Pfeil
 
FIGHTING HATE ONLINE

A Digital Reporting Platform Against Antisemitism

Meldeplattform Czulent
 
When nationalism increases and antisemitism becomes "normal" in public discourse, hate speech and hate crimes threaten democracy and society. The Czulent Jewish Association based in Kraków and the Warsaw Jewish Community have developed a comprehensive monitoring, data collection and reporting system to strengthen the Jewish community in Poland. This enables everyone to help in the fight against hate speech: A central element of the system is a newly created digital reporting platform for antisemitic incidents.

Report an incident   Pfeil
 
AID NETWORK FOR SURVIVORS
Sponsorship for Survivors of National Socialist Persecution

The humanitarian crisis in large parts of Ukraine is continuing to worsen because of the Russian war of aggression. Numerous of survivors of National Socialist persecution are also among the people in need. They are in need of urgent and regular financial support. The cooperation partners of the aid network for survivors of National Socialist persecution in Ukraine are in direct contact with these people and they ensure that they receive donations directly. From a monthly donation of 10 euros, you can now become part of the sponsorship project.

Join now   Pfeil
 
LGBTIQ SELF-ORGANIZATIONS
New Program in Cooperation with ILGA-Europe

As of September 1, 2022, the EVZ Foundation has been funding an ILGA-Europe program that supports and strengthens LGBTIQ self-organizations in Central and Eastern Europe. ILGA-Europe is the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. By partnering with ILGA-Europe, the Foundation is in a position to expand its ongoing commitment to LGBTIQ self-organizations in this part of Europe.

More about ILGA   Pfeil
 
 
 
Perlenfinder
 
KICK-OFF EXPERT COMMITTEE

Shaping a Plural and Self-determining Culture of Remembrance: From the Start and Together!

Migration Erinnerungskultur
 
The program orientation Plural, Selbstbestimmt und Partizipativ [Plural, self-determining and participative] of the Migration and Culture of Remembrance funding program is entering the next impact phase for 2022 and 2023.

Plural, Selbstbestimmt und Partizipativ was launched in 2020 as a pilot format. Now with the located supporting organization Migrationsrat Berlin e.V. that offers a critical perspective of discrimination, the expert program committee 2022 was convened and a joint kick-off meeting for the process "Plural, self-determining and participative" was held.

The goal of the funding program is to make visible the intertwining of National Socialist history and its effects on the present from the perspective of communities which have experienced racism and antisemitism. Inequality relations, plural localizations in collective histories of violence, political movement struggles for recognition, as well as the effects on the overall societal historical memory must be addressed for this purpose. The Foundation addresses this challenge in a reflective, power-critical and diversity-oriented way.

In this funding program, experts from community organizations with experience of antisemitism and racism work together to create spaces and formats for a plural and self-determined culture of remembrance. In this way, the EVZ Foundation as an institutional decision-maker actively shares its sphere of action and establishes formats for participation at the operational level.

Find out about the program now   Pfeil
 
Photo of the Month
 
Cēsis: Silence Falls
 
Can silence be broken and can deceased people be given back their voice? The audiovisual performance Silence Falls by the artists Krista and Reinis Dzudzilo, which took place in August in Cēsis, Latvia, discovered its very own answer to this: A prayer for the dead with music and quotes rang out in the wooded area where all members of the city's Jewish community were murdered during the National Socialist occupation in August 1941.

More about the project in Cēsis   Pfeil
 
 
3 Fragen an…

Danielle Jerry
 
Danielle Jerry
 
Project Manager Antisemitism Critical Education on TikTok,
Anne Frank Educational Center


Danielle Jerry, why is antisemitism critical education needed on TikTok?

Although articles and studies about discriminatory and radicalizing content on TikTok are often published, the platform is still considered by many to be an innocent fun and dance app for children and young people. This misapprehension is dangerous: Since the beginning, the platform has been used by groups and individuals who produce and share antisemitic content and consequently make it acceptable. Many young users are often unable to recognize the antisemitic narratives of such videos or classify them – not because they lack any prior knowledge about it, but because antisemitic content is packaged in such a way as to make it recognizable only at second or third glance.

These are often packaged as "jokes"; they appear hidden in the background, or antisemitic statements are declared as being freedom of speech. Numerous TikTok-typical attributes additionally reinforce this: the videos appear unfiltered in the stream; they are presented to users based on their popularity and interaction. Sounds, filters, or memes that are trending are misused to make the videos float along at the top. The comment columns are severely limited in the number of characters permitted and they are confusing; this leads to counter-arguments being quickly drowned out, word filters can be easily tricked by changing spelling, and existing reporting options fall short or can be misused by trolls to suppress people who are affected as well as opposing voices. Consequently, it is essential to firstly develop an awareness of what is happening on TikTok, and secondly, and most importantly, to develop a counter-position. In this way, we can help to ensure that users are educated about antisemitic narratives and can identify them and take an active position against them in the future. It would be fatal to abandon the field to hatred and to make the platform less safe for those affected.

Read more   Pfeil
 
 
Presseschau
HANDELSBLATT

The Secret of Resilience: What We Can Learn from Germany's Oldest Companies

In a new series, Handelsblatt presents ten of Germany's oldest family-owned businesses and how they deal with crises. The opening presentation provides an overview of what makes family-owned businesses resilient: The series shows that the biggest crises for a lot of companies occurred during the World War I and the National Socialist era – a period for which there has been little comprehensive research to date. Dr. Andrea Despot, CEO of the EVZ Foundation, describes how companies deal with their own past and come to terms with it: "On the offensive, sometimes by media pressure, in studies, engaging by means of foundations or donations, hidden from the public eye - or not at all."

Read the article   Pfeil
 
TAZ
The Struggle for Dignity

On the 70th anniversary of the Luxembourg Agreement, the historical context and debates surrounding compensation payments for Holocaust survivors will be examined. It is becoming clear that the agreement of September 10, 1952 was highly controversial in both Israeli and German society. While there were protests in West Germany against the so-called "reparations", the Israeli government ultimately signed on the basis of financial constraints – and despite having massive doubts. However, descriptions by the survivor Rimma Lerman show that the victims themselves frequently had to fight for payments.

Read the article   Pfeil
 
SPIEGEL+
"Our Commemoration Is Solidified in Rituals"

The historian Ulrike Jureit looks with unease at current debates about the German culture of remembrance and the Holocaust. In a rapidly changing world and society, the view of history automatically changes as well. This also applies to the "previous era of more or less consensual reappraisal of National Socialist history". Jureit explains why this development will not be stopped by rigid rituals, moralizing or prohibitions and what urgently needs to be done instead.

Read the article   Pfeil
 
 
 
Termine
OCTOBER 15, BERLIN
 
Granting of the Rolf Joseph Award 2022
 
"Na, alles koscher?! – Jüdisches Leben damals und heute" [Hey, everything kosher?]: This is the theme of the Rolf Joseph Award funded by the Foundation in 2022. In cooperation with the "Jugend schreibt" [Youth Writes] page of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the Jewish Museum Berlin, prizes will be awarded for contributions from students in grades 5 to 13. The project deals with Judaism in the past, present, and future with the aim of contributing to an open and tolerant society.
 
Learn more about Rolf Joseph   Pfeil
 
 
OCTOBER 22 TO DECEMBER 9, MUNICH
 
"Remembrance as work on the present" Festival
 
The festival combines music, readings, theater, and other art forms relating to the question: "How does the culture of remembrance change in a society that has acknowledged its own radical diversity?" The starting point is the project of the same name by the Munich Kammerspiele which is funded within the framework of the NS Injustice Education Agenda.
 
More about the festival   Pfeil
 
 
NOVEMBER 9, REGENSTAUF
 
Film „Das Zelig“
 
The documentary film "DAS ZELIG" is finally on tour in Germany! In the course of her work, the director Tanja Cummings visited Café Zelig, where Munich Shoah survivors and their relatives meet every week. She was able to accompany the café and some of its visitors on film for months – they laughed, sang, celebrated, but also argued and mourned together.
 
Go the movies   Pfeil
 
 
NEWSLETTER 11/2022

Our next edition will be published at the beginning of November!

 
You can expect the next newsletter on the NS Injustice Education Agenda at the beginning of November: We report on the projects that have started already and take a look at their work. So look out: Premieres, maps and numerous events are waiting for you!

All editions at a glance   Pfeil
 
 
 

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Responsible:
Dr. Andrea Despot

Editorial:
Hanna Komornitzyk, Katrin Kowark, Thomas Stein, Sophie Ziegler

Image credits:
Andrii Volgin, Żydowskie Stowarzyszenie Czulent, Jan Zappner/RAUM 11, Anete Rudmieze, Florian Menath/Bildungsstätte Anne Frank
 
 
 

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