Union and commemorative structures - Nazi Crimes and SED Injustices Reexamined: An Updated Mindset
Federal authorities and memorial sites plan to collaborate on refreshing the approach to remember Nazi atrocities and SED injustices. This was determined during a discussion between memorial site reps and Culture State Minister Claudia Roth in Berlin this Thursday. At first, the intention was to incorporate issues like right-wing terrorism and colonialism into the concept. However, concerns arose from the memorial sites.
According to a joint announcement by the Green politician and Director of Neuengamme concentration camp memorial site, Oliver von Wrochem, and Jörg Ganzenmüller of the Federal Foundation for the Study of the SED Dictatorship for the memorial sites, Germany's cultural history will be significantly impacted by these commemorative sites' efforts to address Nazi crimes and SED injustices.
Revamping the memorial site model
The memorial sites are facing numerous challenges, including societal transformations, the rise of right-wing extremism, digitalization, and increased demands for research, mediation, and preservation. Thus, Roth, alongside representatives of the memorial sites and other history and culture professionals, along with the German Parliament and federal states, will work on revising the 16-year-old federal government's memorial site concept.
The concept update will include discussions on how to handle Nazi crimes and SED injustices, as well as other matters such as colonialism history, right-wing terrorism's past, remembering in a multicultural society, and the history of democracy. The memorial sites will be encouraged to participate in these discussions, yet initially, Roth intended to include these topics in the concept, which caused controversy for the memorial sites, viewing them as equally significant as Nazi crimes.
