The Amadeu Antonio Foundation has developed a research project on local history in East and West Germany.  The aim is to confront schools, museums and communities with a not so distant past: the Holocaust and National Socialism.





Manifestations of bigotry say something about the state of a society.  In Germany, anti-Semitism in particular seems deeply entrenched and it manifests itself in ever new guises, often relativizing the Shoah, blaming the victims for what happened, or accusing Jews now of profiting from the tragic events.  While blatant antisemitism is not accepted in German society, there is a widely held notion that Jews are “different” and by implication never were and can never be part of “us,” of “our” society.  This assumption of difference is at the core of bigotry, it usually translates into notions of the moral or otherwise inferiority of the other.  But ideas about Jews are also reproduced in familial and communal narratives about the past, in Germany particularly the Nazi past, and a family’s or community’s own involvement in that history.  Vague ideas about the past, partial truths, and unclear expectations about Jews are all part of a confused picture that only recycles and recombines prejudices.

The Foundation’s model project to make history visible is one of our strategies to give human form to historic characters from a not so distant past.  When these historic characters are victims and perpetrators in one’s own community and not in some far away geographic location, then we can begin to draw lines between the past and the present, begin to understand why some people prefer to avoid the topic, to understand how some versions of history are distorted, and start to rethink some of the knee-jerk reactions to the history of the Holocaust.


A great demand for teacher trainings

As part of the model project, the Foundation is organizing a series of teacher trainings about antisemitism, local history, and the cultures of memory in East and West Germany.  The trainings for teachers and other educators are carried out in cooperation with the State Authority for Civic Education in Saxony-Anhalt and with the initiative “showing courage for democracy” of the Lower Saxon Association of Young Naturefriends.  The first training, on January 24th in Halberstadt, attracted 40 participants who attended a variety of workshops.  At the end of the day, participants simply wanted more, more time for the workshops, more such trainings.  Andrés Nader, the organizer, and Dagi Knellessen, one of the workshop leaders, noticed that school staff are very uncertain as to how to recognize antisemitism.  Many seemed to shy away from the issue altogether.  This shows just how important it is to engage with the topic thoroughly and in an informed manner that does not intimidate.

The second training, on April 10th at the Bergen-Belsen Memorial Site, presented the Memorial’s new exhibition to over 60 participants.  The new exhibition tells in great detail the history of the three camps at the site: the camp for prisoners of war, the concentration camp, and the DP camp after the liberation.  During the discussion a teacher from Magdeburg reported that one of her pupils with extreme right-wing tendencies had visited the memorial and returned to encourage the class to visit it, because, as he put it, the exhibit showed that things had not been that bad in the camp, people could get married and have children, for example.  Through the training the teacher realized that this student was confusing the DP camp with the concentration camp.  That teacher’s class will make an excursion to the Memorial Site soon: in the meantime, she and the other teachers learned that an excursion to such a site needs to be well prepared.

The third teacher training took place on May 5th in Magdeburg.  There, the Cultural Historical Museum introduced over 70 participants to their new exhibition: “REJECTED-PERSECUTED-MURDERED. Discrimination and Terror during the Nazi Dictatorship in Magdeburg 1933-1945.”  The museum is particularly proud of this exhibition, the first since the end of the war to focus on the local victims, perpetrators and events during the Nazi period.

The trainings have attracted an increasing numbers of participants.  Due to this unexpected level of interest the Amadeu Antonio Foundation is also planning smaller trainings as well to facilitate more self-reflection.


Local examples

Through this model project the Amadeu Antonio Foundation is establishing a number of local initiatives in Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt that deal with various aspects of the local history of the Holocaust and of the Nazis.  These initiatives are trying out new ways to work with and through local history, and looking for ways of making that history visible.  When young people get involved, they not only contribute to the processes of confronting the past and responding to bigotry, but also learn how to engage in democratic processes to establish a monument, to initiate a discussion at the communal level, or to present to the public the results of their efforts.  The following examples should give you a sense of the kinds of work they are doing.

Salzgitter: Local culture of memory

Maike Weth, a recent history graduate, has developed a local project with different components to attract a variety of young participants.  One group of young school students is in the process of writing and shooting a film about the memorials strewn throughout their city, a city that was established to house the labor-force for the Hermann-Göring Works, an armaments factory, and was dotted with forced-labor and concentration camps.  Another group will create a radio program about the city’s Nazi history, and will also report on the work of the film group.  A third group of young people is in the process of creating a rap song that connects the city’s past and present.  The Work Group for City History and the Drütte Concentration Camp and Memorial Center are the local partners for the project and are making their archives, knowledge and facilities available to the local groups.

Dessau-Rosslau: The remains of history

Another group of young people is investigating the history of a camp for Sinti and Roma in the city of Dessau-Roßlau.  The persecution of Sinti and Roma, like the persecution of Jews, has left deep scars in the community and in society in general, but few visible traces remain.  Guided by Jana Müller, film-maker and educator, the group will follow the path of the people who were put in a camp near the city, then later deported to Magdeburg, Buchenwald, and eventually to Auschwitz.  For their film, they are also interviewing Sinti and Roma survivors of the camps.

South Lower Saxony: a topography of memory

Under the guidance of the Moringen Concentration Camp Memorial Site, the local project in South Lower Saxony aims to identify and bring together the many local initiatives and projects in this mostly rural area in order to create a forum for the exchange of ideas and to provide support for the many agents who often work alone in their communities.  The first stage of this topography of memory is completed: a 150-page compendium that traces the local history of the Nazi era lists local initiatives and memorials and identifies contemporary Neonazis active in the area.

Halberstadt: art to expand your horizons

The international contemporary art exhibition “Hannah Arendt Thinking Space" will be shown in Halberstadt in Summer 2008.  In that context, art students from the Western German town of Braunschweig together with high school students from the Eastern German town of Halberstadt will carry out a local project that focuses on the continuing relevance of Arendt’s political, philosophical and literary work in Halberstadt and for young people there.  Jutta Dick from the Moses Mendelssohn Academy in Halberstadt is preparing the high school students for their Summer Project.


Andrés Nader

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