A new exhibition in the Tölz City Museum highlights the biographies of concentration camp prisoners. Opening is April 23rd.
Bad Tölz - The Dachau Death March, the ordeal of thousands of concentration camp prisoners, brought horror from the concentration camps to the villages of the Oberland in the last days of the war in 1945. Many died on the march towards the Alps, but it is still unclear how many. Who were the people behind the numbers that were tattooed on the concentration camp prisoners? The Dachau “Memorial Book” has been dealing with this question for 25 years. Here, biographies of Dachau concentration camp prisoners are compiled in a constantly growing collection. A selection can be seen in the traveling exhibition “Names instead of numbers”. The exhibition will be at the Tölzer Stadtmuseum from Tuesday, April 23rd to Wednesday, May 8th.
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“Because remembering shapes the future,” is the motto behind the exhibition
“Especially in times when racism, right-wing extremism and anti-Semitism are becoming stronger again,” remembering this dark chapter in German history is important, says exhibition initiator Roland Gruber from the Kreisbildungswerk. Young people in particular need to gain knowledge and a feel for what happened in Germany under the Nazi regime, said Gruber. “Because remembering shapes the future” is the motto behind the exhibition.
Cooperation with the Tölzer Gabriel-von-Seidl-Gymnasium
Gruber is happy that there is a cooperation with the Gabriel-von-Seidl-Gymnasium. “The shift to the right is also an issue at school,” says high school student Kilian Widmann. In order to prevent such ideas from arising again, it is important to be familiar with the history of the Nazi era. “Often all you hear is the number of victims. But the biographies give you a much better idea of the cruel things people had to endure,” says Widmann. It is all the more important to prevent this part of history from ever repeating itself.
Contemporary witness interview with Holocaust survivor Abba Naor
The exhibition is accompanied by a supporting program. Among other things, there will be a conversation with Abba Naor. He is one of the last living witnesses of the Dachau Death March. On May 2, 1945, the then 17-year-old was liberated by the Americans in Schopfloch between Waakirchen and Benediktbeuern. Naor will not only speak in the city museum, but also in front of the eleventh graders at the Tölzer Gymnasium. “It’s a huge opportunity for us young people to still be able to have this conversation,” says high school student Aviva Hägele.
A very special exhibit will also be on display at the exhibition for the first time: It is a suit “that a prisoner left behind with a family who helped him escape in Tölz and thus probably saved his life,” says Gruber .
The exhibition: “Names instead of numbers” can be seen from Tuesday, April 23rd to Wednesday, May 8th in the Tölz City Museum. It is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.