Paul quietly speaks to me against the booming engine of a crane truck. The 16-year-old wants to commemorate his group of history in front of the synagogue in Halle of the victims of the attack on 9 October. But the mood in the background noise does not really get so devout.
Nine days after right-wing extremist Stephan Balliet killed two people after a futile attempt to invade the synagogue, there is still a state of emergency in front of the Jewish house of worship. The police are unloading a container in which officials will be able to take up positions in the future. Again and again passers-by come, who put fresh flowers on the already wilting sea of flowers.
At the edge of the scenery, Paul reads from a diary. A year ago, he recites, "we celebrated Shabbat together with the Jewish community." The common praying, eating and singing had touched the students, he reports. "It was like finding new friends."
Five days in Auschwitz
The visit to the synagogue was part of a one-and-a-half years ago "search for clues" by students of the comprehensive school Ulrich von Hutten and participants of the project Stabil, which is aimed primarily at early school leavers. Together, they followed the story of deported families from Halle, such as Kurt Just, traveled to Auschwitz for a five-day visit last fall - and recorded their experiences.
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Student project in Halle: "Diary of Emotions""The journey takes a long time, but when you consider that Kurt Just took ten days to arrive here, without food, without hope, I have a squeeze in my stomach," says a student in the memorial volume titled " Diary of Emotions "has been public since August.
In their narratives, the pupils connect facts with emotions, describe their search for clues and at the same time convey history - in their very own language.
For them, the National Socialism was "blatant", they write with many exclamation points and one of them sees the members of the SS troops because of their "disgusting" acts not as "people, but son of a bitch, quite honest!"
That often falls short, sometimes seems naive and does not go through as a serious history book. But it is the life and emotions of young people - and they are achieved by it.
"The attack has shown what happens when there is too little history education," says project manager Andreas Dose, for 20 years in the history work with young people active and educational staff at the foundation, which cares about the school dropout. In a hate speech before the attack, the alleged perpetrator Balliet denied the Holocaust, before he put on the helmet camera and drove off.
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Empathy makes you smart
The students were shocked by the incident, telling them before the commemoration of the synagogue that had welcomed them so hospitably to the Shabbat meal a year ago. "It touches you even more when you were there to meet people," says 15-year-old Kira.
Whether early school leavers or regulars, the young people say in unison, they did not learn enough about history at school. "The school only provides facts," says Kira. In Auschwitz she felt the story, that was important for understanding.
That empathy makes history comprehensible is known from educational work in concentration camp memorials. https://www.spiegel.de/lebenundlernen/schule/kz-gedenkstaette-flossenbuerg-kann-ein-besuch-einstellungen-aendern-a-1279239.html) The 11th grader Paul wishes that a visit to Auschwitz binding for students is.
Through the action of Halle, he feels caught up in the story. "Not like in National Socialism, but to a dangerous extent," says Paul.
" Now all the more"
The project group had given the attack, however, once again a boost. "Our work was important before," says Paul. This year, they had already thundered through eleven school classes and read from their diary. The students say in a self-presentation: "We are the new eyewitnesses - for other students." They managed to touch the classes with it, says Paul. Now the mood is: "Now all the more."
In front of the synagogue the police container is finally unloaded, the roar of the engine dies during the last words at the commemoration ceremony. "We are not responsible for what has happened and we can not change what happened, even if we wanted to," said the 18-year-old project participant Kim in the sudden silence. She quotes the last paragraph of the diary on the search for traces of the Holocaust. It ends with a call to never forget.
But Kim has just started reminding herself. She's new to the project, so far her story did not matter. Now, she says, she wants to fight for it not to happen again.
The most important links to the assassination in Halle:
- Hate, abuse, attacks: the new old hatred of Jews
- The Assassin of Halle: The Footsteps of Stephan Balliet
- Chronology of the assassination: One hundred minutes of terror
- After assassination in Halle: Can one prevent radicalization on the Internet?