As of: February 9, 2024, 9:24 a.m
By: Michael Schleicher
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“Time does not heal wounds” is the name of the graphic novel in which the artist Hannah Brinkmann tells the life story of contemporary witness Ernst Grube.
Her book, which is part of the NS Documentation Center's publication program, will be published by Berlin's Avant-Verlag in the fall.
© Connolly Weber Photography/NS-Dokuzentrum
This year, the NS Documentary Center in Munich is focusing primarily on right-wing violence and politically motivated terror.
The focus is particularly on the needs and needs of those affected.
Especially in difficult times, it becomes clear how important an institution like the NS Documentation Center in Munich is.
“This war – like the one in Ukraine – poses special challenges for our society,” says director Mirjam Zadoff, referring to the Middle East after the Hamas terrorist attack.
As a result, anti-Semitic hatred has increased worldwide, including in Germany.
“This affects the middle of society.
That's why there's a lot to do." Of course, it's not just international conflicts and their national effects, the shift to the right, for example in the recent state elections, as well as the deputy prime minister's "leaflet affair" are also challenges for historical-political mediation work.
The discussion about Aiwanger would have “brought a form of relativization of the Holocaust into the debate,” observes the historian.
“We cannot cover everything that is brought to our attention,” regrets Mirjam Zadoff, director of the NS Documentation Center.
© Markus Götzfried/Münchner Merkur
This year, the 49-year-old and her team are focusing particularly on right-wing violence, anti-Semitism, racism and politically motivated terror.
Those responsible at Max-Mannheimer-Platz 1 primarily want to take into account the perspective of people who are directly affected by terrorist violence.
This is how the show “Right-Wing Terrorism.
Conspiracy and Self-Empowerment – 1945 to Today”, which starts on April 18th, shows the ongoing right-wing terrorist threat up to the present day.
These include the Oktoberfest attack in 1980 and the attack in the Munich Olympic shopping center in 2016.
The numbers show how much people appreciate the work of the facility: around 150,000 guests were counted last year;
In addition, the NS Documentation Center is continually exploring how audiences can be reached digitally – an online encyclopedia has just been activated.
Bullet holes on a door of the synagogue in Halle.
The testimony of the right-wing terrorist attack in 2019 is shown in Munich.
© Jan Woitas/dpa
But they also want to intensify the very real exchange and “create spaces for dialogue” – the latter preferably in the open air.
From May onwards there will be seating and events on the forecourt, and the mobile coffee bar will of course return.
“We want to have a stronger impact on urban society and become more visible,” announces Zadoff.
The long-planned café in the entrance area will finally open in the fall, and the building will also be barrier-free.
Next year the center will celebrate its tenth birthday.
Until then, the permanent exhibition “Munich and National Socialism” will be revised.
This is “only viable to a limited extent,” as deputy director Anke Hoffsten criticizes surprisingly harshly.
The recent parliamentary shift to the right is neither discussed nor is gender-appropriate language taken into account.
The presentation also uses Nazi propaganda material.
However, Hoffsten also points out that exhibitions with their long lead times are often not the method of choice when it is important to react quickly.
And this challenge will not diminish for the time being.
Unfortunately.