| Dear Readers, |
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85 years ago, on September 1, 1939, the German Wehrmacht invaded Poland, which marks the beginning of the Second World War: a systematic, racially motivated war of extermination against the Polish civilian population followed.
As a result, more than a fifth of the country's entire population were murdered, including more than three million Polish Jews and tens of thousands of Sinti and Roma. Most of them lost their lives in the German extermination camps Auschwitz-Birkenau, Majdanek, Belzec, Sobibor, Kulmhof, Stutthof and Treblinka.
A comprehensive database has been created as part of the Polish-German cooperation project "Fates from Poland: 1939 to 1945. Remembering Locally & Digitally" within the framework of the Education Agenda NS-Injustice. The database brings together the names and biographies of the Polish victims of the National Socialist regime. You can read about Irena Bobowska, a young, talented Polish poet, and her fate as just one of the countless victims of persecution and murder in our second edition of the Education Agenda Magazine, which will be published on September 10, or in advance on our website!
This September 1, we also commemorate the NS "euthanasia" crimes committed across Europe, to which more than 300,000 people fell victim: Planning for the systematic murder of disabled children and psychiatric patients began underground already in the spring of 1939 under the code name "Aktion T4" . This killing program resulted in the murder of more than 70,000 people classified as "unworthy of life". This newsletter explains how the memory of NS "euthanasia" crimes and forced sterilizations is brought to life in the Education Agenda project "Beredtes Schweigen" by means of art.
In our "No Place for Hate" section, you can also read about another attack on the synagogue in Oldenburg, which demonstrates: We need to take an even more proactive approach to the threat to Jews in the country and intensify our efforts to launch antisemitism-critical projects.
Stay in touch, be informed and get involved with us.
Dr. Andrea Despot
Chief Executive Officer of the EVZ Foundation |
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| EDUCATION AGENDA NS-INJUSTICE |
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| Magazine of the Education Agenda NS-Injustice: Second edition will be published on September 10 |
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In accordance with its legal mandate, the EVZ Foundation translates the responsibility resulting from the National Socialist crimes into future-oriented remembrance and educational formats in the Education Agenda NS-Injustice funding program.
And now, almost 80 years after the end of the World War II, this is more important than ever: Without the generation of survivors and with increasing distance in time, we are losing the knowledge we have acquired about National Socialist history and the Holocaust. At the same time, historical continuities reinforce the ongoing discrimination against minorities up to the present day and are combined with a worrying increase in antisemitism, antigypsyism and racism.
The second edition of the magazine of the Education Agenda NS-Injustice shows how the funding program and its projects are addressing these challenges: in reports, interviews and contributions to debates. Look out: The magazine will be published on our website on September 10, 2024 - order now! |
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Learn more & read in advance
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CEntropa
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Two years of MemoryLanes: Ways of remembrance of Jewish life
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86 young people from Germany, Poland and Serbia spent two years studying Jewish biographies from their hometowns, which they have published in the digital Centropa archive. In cooperation with the Galicia Jewish Museum in Kraków, the Centre for Education Policy in Belgrade and berlinHistory, outstanding project results have emerged:
An augmented reality app, available in the App Store and the Google Play Store now establishes the formerly invisible places of Jewish life as new places of remembrance.
In order to make the search for traces in the project visible, participants have designed exhibition panels for direct download.
The project was accompanied on film from the first meeting in Kraków to the final conference in Belgrade: The documentation shows impressively how much the young people have learned about Jewish life and commemoration.
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Find out more about the project
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NAZI FORCED LABOR DOCUMENTATION CENTRE
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Opening of the exhibition "Karya 1943: Forced Labor and the Holocaust"
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How can the little-known history of NS forced labor in occupied Greece be made visible and communicated? With the help of a multi-perspective traveling exhibition. Based on previously unpublished photographs of the forced labor carried out by Jewish men on a railroad line near Karya in central Greece, 250 kilometers north of Athens, students from Germany and Greece have investigated the site geoarchaeologically for mass graves and indications of forced labor. The results of encounters with historical eyewitnesses and workshops with descendants of survivors were also included in the German-Greek project.
You can visit the special exhibition from September 5, 2024 to March 30, 2025 at the Nazi Forced Labor Documentation Centre in Berlin!
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Find out more about the exhibition
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INFORMED, COURAGEOUS, COMMITTED! A JOINT INITIATIVE AGAINST ANTISEMITISM
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November 21, 2024 Workshop and networking day "Done with learning? Antisemitism-critical Education at the Workplace"
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Antisemitism-critical education after October 7, 2023, dealing with emotions and heterogeneous learning spaces as well as the specifics of adult education were the focus of the workshop and networking day of the project "Informed, Courageous, Committed! A joint initiative against antisemitism".
Would you like to join us in making educational services for adults usable and discussing the potential and challenges of antisemitism-critical education in the world of work?
Memorial sites, associations, NGOs, trade union organizations and other providers of antisemitism-critical education who would like to network or acquire further qualifications are invited.
Request a registration form via mail to informiert-couragiert-engagiert@stiftung-evz.de!
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Find out more about the program here
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Friedrich Schiller University Jena and Lernort Weimar
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Beredtes Schweigen - National Socialist Eugenics Crimes and their Consequences
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Who in Thuringia knows the history of the buildings of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, the Stadtroda Clinic or the former health office in Weimar? Where are sites of eugenics crimes in the own neighborhood? What happened there?
A participatory art and education project by Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the Lernort Weimar [Weimar Learning Center] makes the sites of perpetrators visible and establishes them in the regional culture of remembrance - with facade projections produced from a collage of historical photographs, quotes from original records and illustrations. The forced sterilization and murder of people who were to be excluded from the "Volksgemeinschaft" (national community) for health or social reasons took place in their own neighborhood, affecting one in eight families in the region.
The Education Agenda project also makes the life paths of those affected visible: In the theater performance "Ausradiert", an ensemble of young adults remembers the biographies of victims of forced sterilization and NS "euthanasia". They researched, named crime scenes and perpetrators, and made the relevance of forgotten stories visible on the stage.
It is based on biographical material from people who were affected and a graphic novel by the artist Anke Zapf. With impressive image projections, which are drawn live, the actors approach the subject in a documentary collage on the stage of the stellwerk theater in Weimar.
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Take a look at the website
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Review: Swing-Exchange in Bremen!
The Bremen Coalition for German-Czech Cooperation organized a Swing Exchange Weekend in Bremen as part of the transnational project "National Socialist injustice "Degenerate music": Persecuted swing dancers and jazz musicians in northwest Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland".
Together with Lindy Hop dancers from Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland, a dance performance was developed that will be presented to the public at the project's various locations in 2025. In this way, participants are drawing attention to the special form of resistance in the swing and jazz music scene in relation to National Socialist persecution.
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| Read more about the project objectives
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| Deutschlandfunk kultur |
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| Theater Festival For/With/By |
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| The name of the youth theater festival For/With/By says it all: Theater was made in Madrid not just for, but also by and with young people. The three pieces from the Education Agenda project "Resistance & Collaboration: Landscapes of Devastation" from Greece, Spain, Ukraine and Germany were included. They engage in a critical examination of the traditions of remembrance amongst fascist forces. According to Deutschlandfunk Kultur, "[...] this focus on remembrance [of the plays] shows impressively how the cultural sector can react appropriately to the cultural struggle from the right wing: By looking at the unpleasant questions of history." |
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| To the audio report
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| Frankfurter Rundschau |
| Stories from the Gallus district - rehearsal rooms wanted! |
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The National Socialists' racist ideology created a system of exploitation of forced laborers that was often deadly: How do these ideological patterns continue to have an impact today?
The "Gallus Stories" project by Junges Schauspiel Frankfurt is dedicated to this question together with people from the Gallus district in Frankfurt am Main. The project is looking for a temporary home for its plans in the form of performances and artistic actions for the period between September 2024 and June 2025. .A room of between 120 and 150 square meters is needed for approximately 15 to 20 people. In addition to the research for the project, the rooms will also be available to the Galluszentrum. |
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| To the article
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| Radio3 |
| "I'm going to be famous!" The artist Paul Goesch, a victim of NS euthanasia |
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| "I'm going to be famous" - the motto of the exhibition at the Memorial to the Victims of the Euthanasia Killings was written by Paul Goesch himself on the back of one of his drawings. The painter and architect was murdered in the killing facility in Brandenburg an der Havel in 1940. The Education Agenda project presents his life and work in the exhibition. In the audio report, Sabine Steffens and Birgit Klaus - two of the volunteer exhibition organizers - explain what inspires them about this exhibition project. In addition, Dr. Sylvia de Pasquale, director of the memorial, and the art historian Jana Seeger guide visitors through the exhibition. |
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| To the audio report
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| Junior Barros, Sirwan Ali, Alina Buchberger and Nadine Jessen (f.l.t.r.), project team "Forced Labor and Resistance", Kampnagel |
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The project "Forced Labor and Resistance" aims to make the intertwined history of the Kampnagel cultural site visible: Where did you begin their journey into the past? What stories did you come across?
As the International Center for Fine Arts, it is important to us that artists and visitors know the history of violence that this former factory site carries within it - even though, or even precisely because, it has been used as an art venue for 40 years now. We see the reappraisal of the history of forced laborers at Kampnagel as our anti-fascist mission. The subject has been deliberately suppressed in Germany because it affects so many companies and so little has been repaid.
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| How does the project contribute to reappraisal? To the whole interview
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"That was attempted murder," said Mayor Jürgen Krogmann (SPD) after an unknown perpetrator threw an incendiary device at the front door of Oldenburg's synagogue on April 5.
Another attack was carried out on the same synagogue on July 11: Unknown persons sprayed the SA slogan ‘Alles für Deutschland’ (Everything for Germany) on a ramp in the immediate vicinity of the synagogue, which leads to the Wilhelm13 art and literature center, which is taking part in an exhibition on Yiddish language and culture.
Johanna Faber from the Oldenburg Alliance against Anti-Semitism and Anti-Zionism therefore warns: "The SA slogan represents an open threat against Jews and glorifies National Socialism, the ideological core of which is antisemitism".
An 61% increase in antisemitic incidents compared to the previous year - this was documented by the Recherche- und Informationsstelle Antisemitismus [Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism] (RIAS) for 2023 in Lower Saxony. 36 of the 90 institutions affected were memorial sites and initiatives - and thus the most frequent targets of antisemitism.
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| September 13, 6 p.m., Kulturpalast Dresden |
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| "I'm walking through Theresienstadt": Musical reading with Roman Knižka and OPUS 45 |
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| Poems, texts and compositions by prisoners interned and murdered in Theresienstadt will be performed on stage as part of a musical reading by the survivor Edith Erbrich, the actor Roman Knižka, the OPUS 45 wind quintet as well as pupils. This will be followed by a moderated follow-up discussion.The stop in Dresden will be followed by a final concert in Terezín. All events are open to the public. Admission is free. |
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| Find out more here
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September 27, 5 p.m., Kampnagel Hamburg
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Ceremonial opening of the Kulturretter (culture rescuers) exhibition in Hamburg
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Get to know culture rescuers who suffered persecution under National Socialism, resisted and rescued culture into the present! The multimedia exhibition shows stories of culture rescuers from four generations. During the National Socialist era, they hid works of art and distributed leaflets; their descendants save music from oblivion, process memories in stories and comics, transform emotions into art, research family secrets and place Stolpersteine [stumbling stones].
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Information on the project and the exhibition venues
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Oktober 8, Berlin
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In the mirror of historical responsibility? Democratic values as a compass for entrepreneurial action
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Against the background of the rise of far-right ideologies and the associated threat to democracy and Germany as an economic location, many companies are looking for new ways and opportunities to deal with their own past and position themselves in the present based on their values. As part of a joint event, the EVZ Foundation, in cooperation with the newly established Hans and Berthold Finkelstein Foundation and a diverse range of experts, is looking at the topic of historical and current corporate responsibility and providing concrete impetus and ideas for positive action by economic players in the here and now.
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Find out more and register here
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November 19, Weimar
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Forced labor - a history of National Socialist crimes in Europe
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Together with the Museum of Forced Labor Under National Socialism, the EVZ Foundation is planning an expert discussion on transnational remembrance of NS forced labor. The focus is a critical examination of the question of the European dimensions of remembrance of National Socialist forced labor, the different forms these dimensions take and how the critical examination can assert itself in places where the recollection of this crime is still being suppressed or marginalized.
The event is part of Education in Motion, the series of events organized by the Education Agenda NS-Injustice.
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Find out more and register here
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| Edition 10/2024 |
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| Our next edition will be published at the beginning of October! |
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| Find out more about the commemoration of October 7, 2023 and the commitment of the "Network Israel" initiative in the next edition of our newsletter. Stay informed! |
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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
www.stiftung-evz.de
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Responsible:
Dr. Andrea Despot
Editorial:
Jana Bültge, Sonja Folsche, Sarah Keller, Katrin Kowark, Thomas Stein, Sophie Ziegler
Image Credits:
Stefanie Loos, Wojciech Wojtkielewicz, Jiří Lubojacký, Kampnagel Hamburg |
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| © Stiftung Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft, 2024 |
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