| Dear Readers, |
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With each passing year, we move further away from the atrocities committed by the National Socialists. The memory of the past is overshadowed by current events and commemoration is facing new challenges: On January 27, we remember the victims of National Socialism. On this day 79 years ago, Soviet forces liberated the Auschwitz extermination camp. Only in this camp, more than a million people were murdered between March 1942 and November 1944.
With the projects of the Education Agenda NS-Injustice, our project sponsors and ourselves have not just shown how this memory can be kept alive in a variety of ways during the course of the past year. The stories they tell also extend a very long way beyond figures and dates. These stories give the victims a voice, shed light on perspectives or places that have received little attention to date, and anchor commemoration in the present in a manner that is suitable for the current age.
The project "Informed, courageous, committed!" is dedicated to the workplace. Dr. Josef Schuster - President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany and patron of the project - emphatically states that we can only identify and combat antisemitism effectively if we "also work towards a sensitive view of antisemitism outside traditional educational institutions[...]."
With a view to the Washington Declaration of December 3, 1998, the projects "Have You Seen This Book?" and "Law without Law" search for traces of property stolen by the National Socialists. This is part of an exhibition in which book detectives search for missing books, both analog and digital, with a research project that creates the legal basis for the restitution of stolen art.
Hold onto the memory of injustices committed and keep the lessons learned from them alive, stay in touch and get involved with us.
Dr. Andrea Despot
Chief Executive Officer of the EVZ Foundation |
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| LEO BAECK INSTITUTES JERUSALEM AND LONDON |
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| Become a Book Detective: Library of Lost Books |
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| The project invites you to help in the search for the treasures of a renowned library that was dissolved by the National Socialists. The lost books belonged to the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums Berlin (Higher Institute for Jewish Studies) - one of the most important Jewish libraries in the world before World War II. Tens of thousands of volumes on Jewish history and culture were stolen at the time of the Holocaust and then scattered around the world. |
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Start your search now  |
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| TEATRO JOVEN AND SCHAUBÜHNE AM LEHNINER PLATZ |
| Resistance & Collaboration: A European Theater Project |
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| How did resistance and collaboration determine the manifestations of National Socialist injustice in different locations in Europe? A European theater association consisting of the Teatro Joven in Madrid, the National Theater of Northern Greece in Thessaloniki and the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz in Berlin is dedicated to this question. The projects will premiere in Spain as well as Germany at the end of January: In Berlin, Ukrainian director Stas Zhyrkov is staging the play "Postkarten aus dem Osten" (Postcards from the East) with a German-Ukrainian ensemble. The premiere of "Proyecto '36 '39. Lagunas y niebla"(Project '36 '39. Lagoons and Fog) is about to take place in Madrid - young actors explore memories of the Spanish Civil War. |
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| Find out more |
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| FOUNDATION FOR DIGITAL GAMES CULTURE |
| Games Workshop: Recreational Approaches Work at Memorial Sites |
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Immersing themselves in the world of games on site and gathering ideas at "Game Exhibition Jams" – this is what was awaiting participants at this year's Ravensbrück Colloquium at the start of December. At the interactive workshop, educational professionals discuss the potential of games for memory work at memorial sites. At the "Game Exhibition Jams", they developed concept ideas for the integration of digital and recreational elements - for example in the exhibitions at the Memorial Museum Ravensbrück. The Foundation for Digital Games Culture and the Memorial Museum Ravensbrück organized the workshop as part of the project "Let’s Remember. Erinnerungskultur mit Games vor Ort" (Let's Remember! Culture of Remembrance with Games on Site). |
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| Learn more |
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| INFORMED, COURAGEOUS, COMMITTED! |
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| Patron Dr. Josef Schuster Calls for "a Sensitive View of Antisemitism" |
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| The "Informed, courageous, committed!" project establishes a place for learning that counters antisemitism where many different people come together every day: the workplace. The patron of the EVZ Foundation's initiative is Dr. Josef Schuster, President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany. With a view to the question posed by the project, Schuster explains: "There is often a lack of sensitivity in addressing antisemitism, especially in the world of work. It is therefore vital to also work towards a sensitive view of antisemitism outside traditional educational institutions. This is the only way to effectively identify antisemitism and respond appropriately. Promoting a corporate culture that is critical of antisemitism is therefore a cause that I am glad to support." |
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| Find out more about the project & take part |
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| LEO BAECK INSTITUTEs & European University Viadrina |
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| In the Footsteps of Stolen Art |
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Have you ever wondered where the books on your grandparents' shelves came from? You can't tell from literature and works of art who they once belonged to or why they changed hands. An estimated 600,000 works of art were stolen from Jewish ownership or acquired by way of forced sales by the National Socialists between 1933 and 1945. Numerous of them are still missing today.
The Washington Declaration was adopted 25 years ago, on December 3, 1998. 44 states committed themselves to identifying works of art seized during the National Socialist era, locating their owners or heirs, and finding a "just and fair solution".
Two projects from the Education Agenda NS-Injustice deal with art stolen by the National Socialists and its restitution from a variety of different perspectives. Over the past 25 years, Germany has returned tens of thousands of stolen cultural assets. But there is still a lot to do: The project "Law without Law" of the European University Viadrina evaluates the current practice of restitution. The results of this research are not only published, but also integrated into regular university education to ensure a sustainable sensitization of the players in the field.
For the "Library of Lost Books" project of the Leo Baeck Institutes in Jerusalem and London, visitors can become active themselves and go in search of stolen books from a Jewish library: As book detectives, they rummage through attics, second-hand bookshops and flea markets in search of stolen cultural assets. |
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| Find out about Education Agenda NS-Injustice projects |
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How can we counter antisemitism in our own neighborhood? A display case on Jewish life in Berlin-Moabit was destroyed in an arson attack at the beginning of November. The exhibition on show there focused in particular on the Moabit hospital and its Jewish employees. "For a short time, the destroyed contents of the display case stood as a memorial to this shameful act. We documented our position with a large poster "Against any Form of Antisemitism" and a statement on the attack. The exhibition was then rebuilt with newly printed panels in the display case, which is still marked by the arson attack," says Thomas Schöndorfer from the "Sie waren Nachbarn" (They were neighbors) association. In an interview for the "No Place for Hate" section, he talks about the association's work and its fight against antisemitism.
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| Remembering through music: On December 13, 2023, the musical reading for the project "Ich wandre durch Theresienstadt" (I’m Walking through Theresienstadt) made a stop at the Urania Berlin. Under the direction of Roman Knižka, the OPUS 45 ensemble interprets texts as well as music created by artists during their time in the Theresienstadt camp. The series recalls the incomprehensible suffering, the hopes and the artistic self-assertion of Jews imprisoned in Theresienstadt, especially relating to the fates of young people at the time. |
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| More about the event series |
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| NDR |
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| Project Dedicated to the Descendants of Prisoners of War |
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| The program "Hallo Niedersachsen" (Hello Lower Saxony) reports on the project "trotzdem da!" (They're still here!) in which the Sandbostel Camp Memorial is dedicating itself to the little-researched life stories of children from forbidden relationships between prisoners of war or forced laborers and Germans. In the article, two of these children, Gerd Meyer and Gerd Rath, talk about their search for answers: "I barely knew the first name and then I found his sister; then I found a picture of my father for the first time ever. I found the family and was welcomed with such open arms, not just by this family, but also by so many others there," says Gerd Meyer, who found answers through the project and on a trip to Russia. |
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| Watch the program |
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| RBB KULTUR |
| "Library of Lost Books" at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin |
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| In a cultural feature, rbb reports on the recently opened "Library of Lost Books" exhibition at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (Berlin State Library): "From Bordeaux to Riga, Vilnius and Odessa, the Nazis stole everything they considered valuable from museums and private collections. It was not only art treasures that were stolen for gain, but also books on a large scale. How can this knowledge and the modern issues of provenance research and restitution be passed on to a younger generation?" |
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| Listen to it |
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| DIE DEUTSCHE BÜHNE |
| "Chemistry brings Bread, Prosperity and Beauty" |
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| For the theater magazine "Die deutsche Bühne", Manfred Jahnke discusses the premiere of the play "Chemie gibt Brot, Wohlstand und Schönheit" (Chemistry brings Bread, Prosperity and Beauty) with a keen eye for detail: "On the narrative level, Cho and Reich play with the ways of the object theater. A documentary level with lots of visual material is superimposed on this; and then there's the music level which repeatedly tries to get involved in the narrative level. In this way it remains a juxtaposition that finds its justification in the event character of the location." |
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| Read the review |
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| DIE ZEIT |
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| Art and Injustice |
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| Tobias Timm writes for DIE ZEIT about the hesitant return of art stolen by the National Socialists and criticizes this hesitancy. He says that one problem, for example, is that the Washington Declaration, which has just celebrated its anniversary, is not legally binding: "Private collectors do not have to hand over art stolen by the National Socialists in Germany because of the statute of limitations which applies here. Even if their parents or grandparents deliberately exploited the plight of Jewish people when they purchased art." But some public museums also refused to cooperate. |
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| To the article |
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Prof. Dr. Ulrike Lembke, Project leader in the alliance "Antisemitismus als justizielle Herausforderung" (Antisemitism as a Judicial Challenge) (ASJust), independent legal scholar, judge at the Constitutional Court of the State of Berlin and panelist for the 2nd edition of Education in Motion
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The police and judiciary do not just play a decisive role in protecting Jewish life – they are also involved in the prosecution and investigation of antisemitic crimes. Are the law enforcement authorities really doing their job?
There are extreme differences. At one end of the spectrum we see public prosecutors' offices such as the one in Braunschweig, which only started an investigation after being instructed to do so for the third time. At the other end, there are public prosecutors' offices such as the one in Berlin with a specialized department, guidelines, further training, institutionalized exchange with those affected, tenacious prosecution for the abuse of the Yellow Star as well as an annual conference on antisemitism, etc. And there is a wide gulf between them. Criminal courts face challenges of a different order.
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Read more 
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FEBRUARY 9, BERLIN
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Premiere at the Komische Oper: "over and over vorbei nicht vorbei"
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The contemporary opera "over and over vorbei nicht vorbei" will celebrate its premiere at the Komische Oper in Berlin at the beginning of February and explores questions of memory: What do we remember? Who and what shapes our memory? How can people remember events in which they weren't involved? And what influence does memory have on the present and the future? Historical-musical material is the starting point for a performance that moves between different musical, linguistic and temporal levels.
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Secure your tickets
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16. FEBRUAR, HAMBURG
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Forced Labor and Resistance: Open Event at Kampnagel Theater
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Every two months, Kampnagel in Hamburg hosts an open event in Hamburg, where participants - accompanying the project "Forced Labor and Resistance" - explore the history of the international production house as well as its stages with experts on a former factory site together. The factory's past under National Socialism has been little investigated until now. In 1934, the crane manufacturer Nagel & Kaemp became the "Kampnagel AG" which was converted into an armaments factory from 1939 to 1945. This involved hundreds of forced laborers who were kept in six company-owned camps.
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Take part
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| NEWSLETTER 02/2024 |
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| Our next edition will be published in the beginning of February! |
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| In the next edition at the beginning of February, everything will revolve once again around the topics and projects of the EVZ Foundation. Among other things, it will also be about the new funding program "Building Structures for Combating Antisemitism" which we are presenting to a broad media audience for the first time. So stay tuned! |
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| All editions at a glance |
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Stiftung Erinnerung,
Verantwortung und Zukunft
Friedrichstraße 200
10117 Berlin, Germany
T +49 (30) 25 92 97-0
F +49 (30) 25 92 97-11
Website |
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Responsible:
Dr. Andrea Despot
Editorial:
Charlotte Detig, Sarah Keller, Hanna Komornitzyk, Katrin Kowark, Sophie Ziegler
Image Credits:
Leo Baeck Institute Jerusalem & London, Zentralrat der Juden, Leo Baeck Institute Jerusalem & London, Olga Yocheva, Jugend- & Kulturprojekt e.V. |
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The editorial team welcomes your opinion on the newsletter and will be happy to answer any questions. We also help with any issues you might encounter:
newsletter@stiftung-evz.de
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| © Stiftung Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft, 2024 |
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