Preservation of Jewish history: Wolfratshausen association receives renowned award
Created: 01/29/2022, 09:00
By: Sabine Hermsdorf-Hiss
The big moment: Presenter Shelly Kupferberg (left) presents the Obermayer Award.
Connected live from the bathhouse in Wolfratshausen-Waldram to Berlin are club chairmen Dr.
Sybille Krafft and her deputy Jonathan Coenen with part of the team.
© Sabine Hermsdorf-Hiss
The association “Bürger fürs Badehaus Waldram-Föhrenwald” has received the Obermayer Award.
The volunteers are very happy.
Wolfratshausen/Berlin – For 22 years, the Obermayer Award has been given to citizens who have shown outstanding commitment to preserving Jewish history and fighting prejudice. One of the six winners from Germany is the association "Bürger fürs Badehaus Waldram-Föhrenwald" (we reported). The award was presented on Wednesday evening during a ceremony broadcast from the plenary hall of the House of Representatives in Berlin.
"We got to know fantastic places that not only deal with the past, but also approach the future," said Dennis Buchner, President of the House of Representatives, to moderator Shelly Kupferberg.
Sara Nachama, Chairwoman of the Obermayer Jury and President of Touro College Berlin, also underlined how important this is for future generations.
“The contemporary witnesses are becoming fewer and fewer.
We have to find other ways to remember.” Knowledge of history could also help break down prejudices.
Badehaus Waldram: Volunteers invested almost 40,000 hours
The bathhouse in Waldram tells of life and survival, conveying the complex history of the Föhrenwald camp, which after the war first served as a place of refuge for Jewish Holocaust survivors (displaced persons) and then for those who had been expelled from their homeland. "The building was actually supposed to fall victim to the wrecking ball," explained journalist and author Toby Axelrod, who accompanied the award-winning projects. "But a team of committed people managed to prevent this." The members have invested almost 40,000 hours of volunteer work. Everyone, regardless of whether they are 24 or 80 years old, contributes as best they can according to their talents. “The bathhouse not only restored the memory of this place, but also gave a voice to the people who lived there, who were born and grew up there.The protagonists of a short introductory film, including contemporary witnesses Shoshana Bellen and Shai Lachmann, agreed on this.
Nowhere else is the story of the Displaced Persons told like it is here.
Jonathan Coenen, Vice-Chairman of the Bath House Association
Club President Dr.
Sybille Krafft and her deputy Jonathan Coenen were more than pleased with the award.
"The story of the Displaced Persons is told nowhere like it is here," said the 24-year-old.
"It was something special to hear the life stories of eyewitnesses and to show where the survivors ended up." Krafft added that the "bathing house place of remembrance" not only wants to take a look into the past, but also wants to sensitize people to current events .
The chairman of the association: "We must not close our eyes to today's problems." (sh)
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