#WatchOutHstry - illuminating empty spaces, telling unheard stories, highlighting connections: our motto in 2023.‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ 
 
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EDITION 02/2023
 
 
 

Dear readers,

#WatchOutHstry - illuminating empty spaces, telling unheard stories, highlighting connections: Under this motto in 2023 we will be introducing you to previously lesser-known events, places and victim biographies relating to the crimes of the National Socialists from our projects and engagements.

As MEMO V revealed, Ukraine and Belarus - as well as many other Eastern and Southeastern European countries in general - hardly play a role in Germans' memories of World War II. These gaps in the culture of memory are seen in many debates surrounding Russia's war of aggression, which Ukraine has been subjected to for almost a year now - and the people of Crimea and eastern Ukraine for far longer.

"Germany's self-perception as the 'master of memory' is at odds with a large number of gaps in our knowledge about the war of robbery and enslavement in the East," historians Katja Makhotina and Franziska Davies wrote last week in the Tagesspiegel. Together with #WatchOutHstry we will investigate this finding and reveal the history(s) of places, people and events. There are territorial, historic, political and personal interdependencies that do not end at national borders: Consequently, we will be focusing on Belarus, Ukraine and Poland - listening to historical eyewitnesses and discussing the process of forgetting in the present time with our partners in these countries.

Do you have ideas, suggestions or requests for #WatchOutHstry?
Write to us: kommunikation@stiftung-evz.de

 

Stay in touch, be informed and engage with us.

Dr. Andrea Despot
CEO of the EVZ Foundation

 

 
 
News
CALLS FOR PROPOSALS

Opening up historic locations with digital formats

Teilnehmende eines JUGEND erinnert Projektes tauschen sich aus.
 

Save the Date: First calls from the EVZ Foundation this year! For example, in the cluster Education drives the future: With "[re]create digital history" the YOUNG PEOPLE remember program gives a reminder to sponsors of international historical-political education and players in the civic tech industry from Germany, Europe and Israel. Would you like to develop forward-looking concepts that make historical sites readily accessible and irrespective of location? Do you open up places of remembrance and biographies for international youth exchange in a virtual environment? You can shape culture of remembrance actively and digitally with our project funding!


From mid-February: Discover and apply for tenders   Pfeil
 
Info and Media library

Apps, virtual tours and videos

Have you ever browsed the EVZ Foundation's Info and Media library? A large amount of new digital educational material from the Education Agenda NS-Injustice is linked here for downloading. Digital memory rooms on the subject of NS forced labor, materials for educational work with system-relevant occupational groups as well as the new Frankfurt History App are waiting to be discovered and used.

Browse Info and Media library   Pfeil
 
#WatchOutHstry

Making German crimes visible

Skizzierte Nachbildung des "Stammlagers" 352 nahe Minsk.
 

The German Wehrmacht established the former prisoner of war camp Stalag 352 on the outskirts of Minsk. For a long time, the history of the "Stammlager" and the victims were suppressed from the historical memory of World War II. Now the Republican Association of Tourism Industry in Belarus has taken on the task of making the forgotten history visible and making silenced voices from the past audible. A multimedia website and audio guide provide a new look into the history of Stalag 352 - recalling German crimes against thousands of Soviet POWs, Jews as well as Italian military internees.


Explore the website now   Pfeil
 
CULTURE OF REMEMBRANCE

Making history and memory tangible

How can history be made accessible for young people? How can a transnational culture of remembrance be shaped? The new LaG magazine explores possibilities of participatory remembrance and education work in Europe and presents the practical results of the funding program YOUNG PEOPLE remember. The EVZ Foundation implemented the international program lines of the federal project. In the process, projects for the transfer of knowledge and memory were promoted across Europe. They show the diversity of today's multi-perspective approach to history. Explore art, soundscapes, memory walks, comics, serious games, interviews with historical eyewitnesses as well as history labs!

Read now   Pfeil
 
SUPPORT FOR SURVIVORS OF NATIONAL SOCIALIST PERSECUTION

Exhibition „Wohin ich immer reise“ (Wherever I go)

The Frankfurt "meeting place" of the Central Welfare Board of Jews in Germany (ZWST) has become a second home for many survivors of National Socialist persecution. Here, volunteers offer survivors and their families a place for exchange and support as well as cultural and religious services. The artist Aviva Kaminer oversees the studio where visitors can give free rein to their creativity and process their memories with artistic activities. In the protected space of the studio, special works of art are created - they can be visited in the Römerhallen of the City of Frankfurt until February 12.


Register now for public tours   Pfeil
 
 
Perlenfinder
MEET UP! MICROPROJECTS

Fashion show with big impact

 

The MEET UP! microprojects support creative ideas from Germany, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. The EVZ Foundation team developed the concept behind the microprojects in a participatory approach with young experts from the program countries. But can anything substantial be achieved with a microproject? The young fashion designer Mahammad Kekalov has shown how this can work in an impressive way. Kekalov had a vision years ago: People with disabilities should be able to feel comfortable in their own clothes. It also aims at giving them a dignified media presence in an industry that often does not see them. This is why this Azerbaijani founded a fashion brand for people in wheelchairs - "Kekalove Adaptive Fashion".
The label successfully celebrated its premiere last year: Kekalov's team organized fashion shows in the Azerbaijani capital Baku. In the process, many models aged between 7 and 50 with physical disabilities were able to present the collection designed for them. The events provided a space for exchange, self-organization and discussions about participation. The photo shows the brothers Amir and Abbas on the stage at a fashion show.


Find out about numerous micro projects now   Pfeil
 
 
Foto des Monats
 
Iris Berben und Thomas Thieme lesen auf der Bühne des Berliner Ensembles aus Bittbriefen von Jüdinnen und Juden an Papst Pius.
 

"Holy Father! Before I take the last step of my young life, which has yet to see even one rosy day, I make so bold as to appeal to Your Holiness for help," begins one of many thousands of letters of supplication from Jews to Pope Pius XII. Their desperation and hope expressed in letters to the Vatican are the starting point for the project "Asking the Pope for Help" of the University of Münster, funded by the EVZ Foundation and other sponsors. On the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Ilse Holzapfel Foundation and the EVZ Foundation organized a reading on the stage of "Fünf Stellvertreter" (Five Substitutes) at the Berliner Ensemble with Iris Berben and Thomas Thieme based on this project.


More about "Asking the Pope for Help"   Pfeil
 
 
3 Fragen an…

Portätfoto von Evelyne Paradis, Executive Director von ILGA-Europe.
 
Evelyne Paradis, Executive Director of ILGA-Europe
 

What is the situation of LGBTIQ self-organizations in Central and Eastern Europe?

In January 2022, ILGA-Europe launched ‘Funding to Meet Changing Realities’, our second Report on the state of LGBTI organisations in Europe and Central Asia, which clearly showed that LGBTI activists are struggling to resource their work amid a number of challenging factors. About three-quarters of LGBTI organisations identified a lack of funding for the activities that are most important to their organisation as a barrier to implementing projects. They often do their most important work without funding.
About one third of LGBTI organisations operate on yearly budgets under 20,000 Euro. That’s approximately 55 Euro per day, all the while engaging in a vast variety of activities to simultaneously serve community needs and advance laws and policies to protect LGBTI people's human rights. On top of this, 85 percent of organisations say that they have been faced with burnout issues. The most common cause of stress and burnout across was not being able to meet the needs of LGBTI people coming in for help and having to respond to external threats from right wing, anti-LGBTI or “anti-gender” groups or individuals.


Read more   Pfeil
 
 
Presseschau
FRANKFURTER RUNDSCHAU

"Frenemies" by Meron Mendel and Sina Arnold: "We're in a minefield"

In an interview with the Frankfurter Rundschau, Sina Arnold and Meron Mendel talk about the EVZ Foundation-funded publication "Frenemies - Antisemitism, Racism and their Critics" where numerous contributions outline the problematic sphere of criticism of racism and antisemitism. The two authors explain what "frenemies" means in the first place, why the book project nearly failed and whether there are commonalities between the two "camps" despite all the tensions.

Read the interview   Pfeil
 
3SAT

"Culture time" 11.01.2023

The program covers the debate about Soviet monuments and places of remembrance in Ukraine. In the context of the Russian war of aggression, a question arises as to whether memorials should come down. But is the practice of demolishing memorials the right response? Shouldn't soldiers who defeated Nazi terror be commemorated? The interview with 3sat includes Dr. Anton Drobovych, Director of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance and member of the EVZ Foundation's Board of Trustees.

Watch the program   Pfeil
 
SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG

“The wounds and scars need to be made visible"

This year the Bundestag commemorated the National Socialist persecution of queer people for the first time. In this article, the Süddeutsche Zeitung describes the extent to which queer people were systematically persecuted and murdered. In doing so, the article refers to the exhibition "To be seen. Queer Lives 1900 - 1950" by the Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism, showing how diverse the past had been and what had been lost through National Socialist persecution. It is all the more important to make the wounds and scars visible because queer people in Germany are still threatened with violence and discrimination today. The article also tells the story of a long struggle for justice - beyond 1945.


Read the article   Pfeil
 
 
Termine
FEBRUARY 14, BERLIN
 
EVZ Conversations Meets JMB!
 
What does the war in Ukraine mean for German, Jewish and Ukrainian cultures of remembrance? What reflexes - for example defense against guilt and relativizing the Holocaust and National Socialist injustice - can be identified in the German public debate and how can they be countered? Dr. Andrea Despot, CEO of the EVZ Foundation, discusses with the Minister of State for Culture and Media Claudia Roth, the Director of the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies in Kyjiw, Dr. Anatoly Podolsky, Director of the Arolsen Archives, Floriane Azoulay as well as other guests. The event will take place in cooperation with the Jewish Museum Berlin.
 
Register now   Pfeil
 
 
FEBRUARY 21, BERLIN
 
Press Briefing: MEMO Youth Study
 
How, what and in which ways do young people remember National Socialism? How do they perceive discrimination now? The MEMO Youth Study 2023, sponsored by the EVZ Foundation and conducted by Bielefeld University, gives answers to these questions.
 
Register now   Pfeil
 
 
FEBRUARY 23, BERLIN
 
Presentation of Online Antisemitism tracker
 
In the Ukraine war, antisemitism and disinformation are elementary components of pro-Russian war propaganda. Against this background, the think tank polisphere, with the support of the EVZ Foundation, has developed a digital antisemitism tracker that analyzes the spread of antisemitic statements on social media and platforms in the course of the war.
 
Register now   Pfeil
 
 
NEWSLETTER 03/2023

Our next edition will come out at the beginning of March!

Preview
 

You will receive the next newsletter on the Education Agenda NS-Injustice at the beginning of March: We report on upcoming events for our projects, such as the launch of #LastSeen and a theater education network event in Leipzig. Look out!


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:
Wladimir Zivojinovic, Screenshot: stalag352.by, Kekalove Adaptive Fashion,  Laurence Chaperon für Ilse-Holzapfel-Stiftung, ILGA-Europe
 
 
 

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