The "Opening Spaces" working group has been in existence since 2016 and is a loose association of different people who work educationally, academically and curatorially in the field of "Cultures of Remembrance and National Socialism".
The "Opening Spaces" working group has existed since 2016 and is a loose association of different people who work in the fields of education, research and curating in the field of "Cultures of Remembrance and National Socialism". For us, the working group is a space in which we can critically reflect together on our working practices, our self-images and our institutions. In our process paper published in the memorial circular in 2022, we outlined our goals for memorial work in a society of the many along various lines. Many of these have become all the more urgent due to the socio-political escalations of recent years.
We would like to discuss with you two of them that seem particularly urgent to us: What does it mean to consistently view and design memorials as spaces of solidarity and safety, as well as anti-fascist spaces?
We see memorials and Nazi documentation centres as political institutions and social actors and clearly oppose the idea of supposed political neutrality. Instead, we call for (educational) spaces to be designed in the way we imagine a society of the many: in solidarity, critical of power and safe. In doing so, we take a partisan stance for and with people affected by discrimination. Due to the current strengthening of right-wing positions, it can be assumed that the concept of anti-fascism will be even more delegitimised in the future, and not only in the USA. By clearly positioning places of remembrance as anti-fascist spaces, it may be possible to consolidate one's own position and gain additional allies in the fight for a society based on solidarity. Remembrance work was and is never apolitical or neutral.
Based on the places where we work, the critical examination of Nazi history and the negotiation of its significance for the post-Nazi migration society today is at the centre of our Education work.
With Cornelia Chmiel/Kai Mueller/Jennifer Farber (Open Spaces Working Group)
Registration
The event is part of the digital event series "Perspectives on the Culture of Remembrance" organised by the Lower Saxony Memorials Development Department. Registration is required for participation. If you are interested, please send an e-mail to the following address, stating your name, profession and (if available) affiliation. We will send all registered participants the Zoom link in advance of the events.
Register: gfn@stiftung-ng.de
The organisers reserve the right to exercise their domiciliary rights and to refuse admission to or exclude from the event any persons who belong to right-wing extremist parties or organisations or who have made or continue to make anti-Semitic, anti-democratic, history-denying, nationalistic, racist or other inhuman statements, attitudes or visible signs.